CALGARY, Alberta, Oct. 12 (UPI) — With oil prices on the rebound, and months after the region was devastated by fires, upstream energy company Wood Group said new work is planned for Alberta.
Wood Group said it received a work order from Suncor Energy to help with well design at a site located about 75 miles northeast of Fort McMurray.
Alberta’s economy is recovering after around 1 million barrels per day worth of oil production were sidelined in May by wildfires that ravaged the Fort McMurray area. The provincial government estimated a net fiscal impact of about $387 million from the wildfires, which at the time prompted the evacuation of least 80,000 people in the area.
With Alberta’s oil sector recovering, Wood Group said the costs associated with the well designs for Suncor were improved.
“The design delivers cost savings by eliminating much of the owner’s costs associated with engineering, procurement and project management,” Wood Group said in a statement.
Wood Group said it would help Suncor with designs targeting heavier oil operations, especially ones that use steam to help get reserves out of the ground.
BlackPearl Resources, which received approval for its Blackrod project in Fort McMurray last month, said it was vindicated by a “long and thorough review” process that showed its steam stimulation efforts would be a commercial success.
More than 12,000 barrels of the viscous form of oil found primarily in Alberta seeped from a steam-induced development in 2013, prompting the government to ban some of the processes temporarily.
Alberta lies at the heart of the Canadian oil sector and lower crude oil prices have resulted in a 3.7 percent contraction for the provincial economy.
A five-member task force was appointed by the provincial government in September to help steer research, development and deployment of technology that could be used to advance a low-carbon economy in Alberta.
