An expansion on a Lakeland oil and gas site is one step closer to happening. The expansion of the Imperial Oil Cold Lake Operations has been given the ok by the Alberta Energy Regulators. The program was originally put forth to the regulatory board in March of 2016.
Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland is happy to see the project get green-lighted.
“The next step is to see when it will be financed by Imperial Oil. For our area, it’s a shot of good news that we desperately needed.”
The expansion would produce up to 55,000 barrels of crude per day from bitumen taken from the Grand Rapids formation.
Copeland says the growth in the project will benefit all the Lakeland.
“It could be anywhere from a half-a-billion to two billion dollars of infrastructure built which is a lot of jobs. A lot of permanent jobs will come with it.”
Copeland says the positive effects of the project should be felt around the community. Imperial Oil says should all go right in the planning phase, construction could begin as early as 2019.