Latest news with #oilSands
Bloomberg
30-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Major Canadian Oil Site Vents Most Gas Since 2021 Due to Wildfire
Cenovus Energy Inc.'s Christina Lake oil-sands site vented the most natural gas in more than four years into the atmosphere when a wildfire forced an emergency shutdown of the facility in May. Christina Lake released the equivalent of 151,511 cubic feet a day of climate-warming gas in May, up from less than 5,000 cubic feet a day in April, Alberta Energy Regulator data show. The amount vented was the most for any month since January 2021. The monthly increase in venting was the most for any facility in Alberta and only eight other sites, all of which primarily produce gas rather than oil, released more in total.
Globe and Mail
17-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Alberta to invest $50-million to help develop oil sands water, tailings technologies
Alberta has earmarked $50-million to boost technologies that can help reduce and manage the massive oil sands tailings ponds in the province's north. The cash for the new program, announced Tuesday, will come from the province's carbon price on large emitters. The program will be managed by Emissions Reduction Alberta through a competition for private companies to develop new and existing technologies that make tailings and water treatment cheaper and more effective. Successful applicants can receive up to $15-million per project, with a minimum funding request of $1-million. Emissions Reduction Alberta, which distributes government funds to help innovators develop and demonstrate Alberta-based technologies that lower emissions and costs for industries, will contribute no more than half to any single project. Tailings are a by-product of the process used to extract bitumen from mined oil sands, and are a mixture of sand, clay, water, silt, residual bitumen and other hydrocarbons, salts and trace metals. The issue of how to deal with them has bedevilled Alberta for years. There are roughly 1.4 million cubic metres of fluid tailings and more than 390 million cubic metres of water in ponds in the oil sands region. Although some ponds have been reclaimed, the volume of tailings continues to grow, in part because any water captured on a site must be kept there – even if it's snow melt or rain that hasn't been used in the mining process. Alberta fails to move needle on emissions reduction plan Remediating oil sands mines could cost $130-billion, according to a 2018 internal Alberta Energy Regulator memo, though in an official estimate the regulator puts the cost around $34-billion. Managing tailings is a complex problem, Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said at a Tuesday press conference at the University of Calgary, where she announced the $50-million program. Not only do they create an environmental and financial liability, she said, they also take water permanently out of the system, preventing it from being used by others who need it. Some companies use internal water recycling at their sites that surpass 90 per cent, saving millions of litres from ending up in a tailings pond. And the sector has invested billions of dollars into testing ways to adapt and develop new water treatment technologies, Ms. Schulz said. Oil sands CEOs optimistic for movement on $16-billion carbon capture project But that work needs to shift into overdrive: 'We need more advanced technologies to help reduce, treat and manage mine water,' she said. Justin Riemer, chief executive of Emissions Reduction Alberta, said at the press conference that the $50-million competition is designed to hasten pilot programs and deployment of the most promising solutions. It will be focused on technologies that treat oil sands waste water, accelerate and lower the costs of land reclamation, and reduce the use of fresh water in oil sands operations. Kendall Dilling, president of the Pathways Alliance, a group of oil sands companies that have pledged to bring production to net-zero by 2050, said at the press conference that the program will play an important role in addressing the tailings issue. But, he added, companies will continue to use a vast array of tools to deal with tailings, including sharing water between mine sites to minimize new withdrawals from the Athabasca River. The oil sands sector has been waiting for more than a decade for a treat-and-release regulation from the federal government, similar to policies that govern other mining industries. Ms. Schulz said she had some productive conversations with former federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault about the tailings issue, but she has not yet spoken with his replacement, Julie Dabrusin. Multiple cases of spills and leaks from tailings ponds have been reported by oil companies in recent years. At Imperial Oil Ltd.'s Kearl site, a long-running leak has resulted in an unknown volume of tailings leeching into the environment. A drainage storage pond at the site also overflowed, spilling roughly 5.3 million litres of industrial waste water laced with pollutants into the environment, and another incident sent thousands of litres of water from a settling pond into the Muskeg River. In April, 2023, almost six million litres of water with more than twice the legal limit of suspended solids was released from a pond at Suncor's Fort Hills oil sands project into the Athabasca River watershed. A recent study by an Alberta ecologist found that the province's energy regulator lacks the data required to assess and manage the environmental impact of tailings spills, and has underestimated the number and volumes of spills in the oil sands.
CTV News
17-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Alberta announces new challenge aimed at transforming tailings ponds
Rebecca Schulz, minister of environment and protected areas, speaks in Calgary on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. Alberta has announced $50 million in funding to help entice companies to come up with new and improved technologies to reduce oil sands mine water and reclaim tailings ponds. The province announced the Tailings Technology Challenge at a news conference in Calgary on Tuesday. 'We look forward to seeing the innovative solutions that come out of this funding challenge,' said Rebecca Schulz, minister of environment and protected areas. Oil sands processing creates leftover water called tailings that need to be properly managed. In the oil sands, tailings are a mixture of water, sand, clay and residual bitumen that are the byproduct of the oil extraction process. 'Tailings and mine water management remains among the most significant challenges facing Alberta's energy sector,' said Justin Riemer, Emissions Reduction Alberta CEO. The Tailings Technology Challenge is open to oil sands operators and technology providers until Sept. 24. Eligible technologies include both engineered and natural solutions. 'Innovation has always played an instrumental role in the oil sands and continues to be an area of focus,' said Kendall Dilling, Pathways Alliance president. 'Oil sands companies are collaborating and investing to advance environmental technologies, including many focused on mine water and tailings management.' 'We're excited to see this initiative, as announced today, seeking to explore technology development in an area that's important to all Albertans.' The money for the challenge is from the industry-funded Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Regulation (TIER) fund.
CTV News
10-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Pipeline incidents declined by 12% last year, Alberta Energy Regulator says
Pipeline at the Cenovus Christina Lake oil sands facility southeast of Fort McMurray, Alta., on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amber Bracken The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) says there were fewer pipeline incidents last year and 90 per cent of them were classified as 'low consequence.' The agency monitors more than 400,000 kilometres of pipeline that transport natural gas, crude oil, diluent, produced water and sour gas. The AER released details of pipeline performance last year and said total incidents dropped from 350 in 2023, to 307 in 2024. The figure is a 32 per cent decline from 2015, the AER said, adding that advanced practices likely played a factor in this drop. 'The improvement in pipeline incident rates is likely attributable to advancements in industry practices, such as the implementation of enhanced safety loss management systems and integrity management programs. These progressions are further supported by ongoing regulatory initiatives aimed at refining pipeline requirements and inspection protocols,' AER said in a statement. It classifies incidents into three categories: high: incidents with a significant impact or adverse effect on a sensitive water body or the environment, wildlife, livestock, workers, or the public; medium: incidents with a moderate impact or adverse effect on a sensitive water body or the environment, wildlife, livestock, workers, or the public; and low: incidents with little to no impact or adverse effect on a sensitive water body or the environment, wildlife, livestock, workers, or the public. There were only five 'high-consequence' incidents in Alberta last year – making up only one per cent of the total incidents – and those involved pipelines carrying produced water, oil well effluent or sour natural gas. Internal corrosion remains the leading cause of pipeline incidents, the AER said. It led to 43 per cent of incidents in 2024. Seventy-two per cent of last year's pipeline incidents did not involve leaks or leaks of less than one cubic metre; about six barrels or less. 'The largest release of fluids in 2024 was 450 m3 of non-fresh water (produced water) and hydrocarbons,' the AER said. The agency releases five reports each year under its Industry Performance Program, which helps monitor, measure and publicly report on the energy industry's environmental and operational performance.
Globe and Mail
09-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Calgary-based oil giant appeals fine over wildlife deaths in tailings pond
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. CNQ-T is appealing a $278,000 fine for a major environmental infraction that killed birds and endangered coyotes and wolves near its Horizon oil sands mining operation in Northern Alberta. The Alberta Energy Regulator levied the fine in July last year. Tyler Callicott, its director of enforcement, wrote in a judgment that the Calgary-based oil giant failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent wildlife from coming into contact with toxic tailings at the oil sands site. But the oil company says the regulator erred in applying pertinent legislation and, as a result, issued a penalty that was far too high. It wants the regulator to reduce the fine by more than 80 per cent, to $46,750. Canadian Natural's net earnings were $7.4-billion in 2024. The fine stems from CNRL's lack of action after it discovered that an island had formed in a tailings pond at Horizon in the spring of 2021. Tailings ponds contain process-affected water and bitumen that is toxic to wildlife – both to birds, which lose their insulation, waterproofing and ability to fly when heavily oiled, and to the predators that eat them. No birds were nesting on the island when CNRL first noticed it in 2021, so the company continued with its usual bird-deterrent activities until the island was eventually submerged by rising water. It made no effort to eliminate the island or manage the level of water to prevent its re-emergence, according to a written decision from the regulator. In the spring of 2022, the island re-emerged and became a habitat and nesting site for birds - and their predators, such as wolves and coyotes, which could access the island through a strip of shallow water. Canadian Natural reports first-quarter profit beat and record oil and gas output On May 21, 2022, CNRL discovered 271 California gull nests and a Canada goose nest on the island. Two weeks later, it notified the regulator of the formation of the island and measures it was taking to prevent birds from coming into contact with toxic tailings. 'These, and subsequent, mitigation measures were not effective in preventing animals from coming into contact with a hazardous substance,' the AER's Mr. Callicott wrote in his decision. The regulator deemed the incident major, given that CNRL reported 411 bird fatalities between May and August of 2022, and that coyotes and wolves accessed the island through the water of the tailings facility and killed oiled birds. In a 114-page appeal lodged on May 6, CNRL argued that a hazardous substance must 'come into contact with or contaminate' an animal for an offence to have occurred, according to environmental rules. But for a portion of the contravention period there was no proof of oiled birds, CNRL argued in its appeal. Instead, the regulator said in its judgment that it was only 'likely or inevitable' that birds were contaminated by the toxic tailings pond, because nests were present on the island. When the regulator relied on 'likely or inevitable' contamination, it issued a penalty for 76 days, from - May 21, 2022, when the first gull nests were identified, until Aug. 4, 2022, when the gulls had all left the island. But given there were only 13 days when oiled birds were identified, CNRL said the penalty should be capped to that time period. The company acknowledged in its appeal that the incident was significant. But it argued that the base penalty should be reduced owing to Canadian Natural's 'good faith and mitigation measures in response to the incident.' Oral final arguments on the appeal will be held on June 18.
