An oil and gas site in the Lakeland is getting a boost from its parent company. Imperial Oil has announced the Cold Lake operations will undergo a $450 million project to boost its output.
The work replaces a planned expansion that’s been in limbo for the past few years. Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland sees the announcement as good news for his community.
“It’s great news for our area and it will put some people to work and it will expand the resources out there on the Cold Lake Oil Sands. It’s exciting.”
Imperial says they’ll be drilling into new territory like the Grand Rapids formation. The boost should take Cold Lake production to 50,000 barrels per day after 2021.
Copeland says now that production is ramping up it’s time for governments to start helping progress on the Trans Mountain and line three of the Keystone Pipeline.
“Once those two pipes are flowing oil, it will really impact our area in a great way. A lot of our companies ship down to the United States to try and get the oil refined down there.”
Imperial also said it would be keeping its $2.6 billion Aspen oil sands project on the sidelines until the curtailment program in the province is ended.