Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. (TYO:JAPEX) has started steam injection into its Hangingstone oil sands expansion project in Alberta, Canada.
Subsidiary Japan Canada Oil Sands Limited (JACOS) started field construction in February 2013, targeting the region’s heavy crude.
Bitumen production from the operation is expected to be 20,000 barrels per day. The drilling of production and steam injection wells for the production operation was completed in February, 2015.
In February, 2017, JACOS completed the construction work on the Central Processing Facility and work began to prepare for the start of steam injection.
The start of steam injection is the final preparation phase for start-up of production operations.
JACOS will raise the temperature and pressure of the oil sands layer located at 300m underground over the next two to three months, and the start-up of production is expected around the middle of the year, as planned.
Production volumes of bitumen will gradually increase and are expected to reach 20,000 barrels per day by mid-2018.
JAPEX has been pursuing oil sands development in Canada for 40 years, since 1978. In 1999, as the forerunner, JAPEX succeeded in bitumen production utilizing Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage at the Hangingstone Demonstration Project.
After that, JAPEX has been advancing a development project at Hangingstone to achieve full-scale commercial production operations.
The Hangingstone Oil Sands Project is operated by holding a 75% participating interest in a joint venture with Nexen Energy ULC, a CNOOC Limited Company,
who holds the remaining 25% interest.
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