Canada's Oil Sands Companies To Share Research On Waste Ponds
December 13 2010 - 2:37PM
Dow Jones News
Canada's major oil sands mining companies, under pressure from
regulators and environmentalists, said Monday they've agreed to
collaborate on technology to clean up the massive waste-water lakes
created by their operations.
The agreement comes as Alberta's government is requiring oil
sands miners to cut tailings production by 20% starting this year,
increasing to a 50% annual reduction by 2012. Tailings ponds--a
mixture of clay, water and toxic leftover oil--cover more than 50
square miles in northeastern Alberta and could take hundreds of
years to be settle on their own.
All the current oil sands miners have submitted their own plans,
using different technologies, to curtail the growth of the tailings
ponds, which are projected to grow along with the rapid pace of the
oil sands industry. Canada's is the largest exporter of oil to the
U.S. Roughly half the country's oil production comes from the oil
sands, and oil sands production is expected to double by the end of
the decade.
Under the agreement, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ,
CNQ.T), Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA,
RDSA.LN), Suncor Energy Inc. (SU, SU.T) Syncrude Canada Ltd.
(SYNCRUDE.YY), Total S.A. (TOT, FP.FR) and Teck Resources Ltd.
(TCK, TCK.A.T) will share their tailings research and technology
and "eliminate monetary and intellectual property barriers,"
according to a release.
Of the tailings technologies submitted by the miners, only
Suncor's has met the original targets set by Alberta's government,
and has been best regarded by environmental groups. Suncor Chief
Executive Rick George has previously said he'd be willing to share
Suncor's technology with other companies for a "nominal" fee that
would offset some of the costs of Suncor's research.
A Suncor representative wasn't immediately available to comment
on whether that fee would be completely lifted under this
agreement.
Oil sands tailings ponds were the focus of intense criticism due
to the deaths of thousands of waterfowl that have landed in the
ponds and died from the toxic chemicals. Despite taking steps to
prevent such accidents, several hundred more birds died in a
Syncrude tailings pond in October.
Tailings ponds are only created by oil sands mining operations.
Though most current production is mined, 80% of the oil sands are
only recoverable using underground extraction methods that don't
create tailings ponds, and an increasing amount is being mined this
way by companies such as Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE, CVE.T).
-By Edward Welsch, Dow Jones Newswires; 403-229-9095;
edward.welsch@dowjones.com
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