Joslyn Asset

Overview

Since its purchase of the Joslyn Lease in 2005, Total E&P Canada has been working diligently to build better oil sands extraction operations. Total has partnered with Suncor Energy Inc., Occidental Petroleum and Inpex Canada to develop this asset, which is located 65 kilometres northwest of Fort McMurray in the Athabasca Oil Sands.

The Joslyn Asset covers an area of just over 221 square kilometres. It is expected to yield over 874 million barrels of bitumen over 20 years, while the Joslyn North Mine portion of the Lease will reach a production rate of 100,000 barrels per day.

Status: Joslyn North Mine Project

Total E&P Canada is currently in the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) stage of the proposed Joslyn North Mine Project. In January 2011, a Joint Federal Provincial Review Panel found the Project to be in the public interest and recommended final regulatory approval for the construction, operation and reclamation of this asset (see news release). The Joint Review Panel, which included representatives from the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board and the Government of Canada, based its decision on public hearings held in September and October, 2010. The company is working with the regulators to receive final approval for the Project.

The Joslyn North Mine Project is scheduled to commence operations in 2017 and will reach a production rate of 100,000 barrels per day. When Joslyn is in production, approximately 70 square kilometres will form the mining operation.

Investing in the Region

Our Joslyn North Mine Project will create significant direct and indirect social and economic benefits for local communities, Alberta and Canada. These include:

• Estimated capital cost expenditures are $7-9 billion.
• Estimated operations expenditures for the Project, excluding energy purchases, are $580 million to $620 million annually once full production is reached in 2017-2018.
• Municipal property taxes are estimated at approximately $52 million per year.
• Royalties and taxes paid to the Albert and Canadian governments are estimated at $10.5 billion over the life of the Project.
• It is estimated that project construction will create approximately 16,560 person-years of direct construction employment.
• The construction workforce is expected to peak at approximately 4,100 workers.
• Total direct, indirect and induced employment effects are estimated at 42,000 person-years during construction, and 3,000 person-years annually during operations (Total employment effects estimate based on published multipliers - Alberta Finance 2009).

Technology Solutions

The Project is designed to be environmentally responsible, applying proven and new technology, and best practices that will reduce our environmental footprint. We have introduced significant improvements in three key areas of the Project: tailings management, land management and water management.

Tailings Management

Tailings, a by-product remaining after bitumen is extracted from oil sands, is a mixture of sand, silt, clay, water and residual hydrocarbon. Historically these tailings would be deposited into large tailings ponds.

Total E&P Canada’s tailings management plan offers improved processes that segregate the tailings into three streamed areas according to their respective ability to consolidate and release water:

• Coarse Tailings will be deposited into an external disposal area (sand beach) and will be trafficable within a matter of weeks. Runoff water will accumulate at the lower end of the beach, and will be pumped into a dedicated pond and recycled.
• Thickened Tailings, containing half coarse sands and half fines, will be thickened to release water for recycling, followed by beaching in a dedicated area. Run-off water will be dredged and collected for recycling.
• Froth Treatment Tailings, containing mostly water, fines and residual hydrocarbon, will be deposited in a dedicated pond consisting of run-off water collected from the other two streams. Fluid fines tailings occurring in this pond will be treated, and centrifuged to eliminate mature fines tailings and the cake will be deposited on one of the beaches.

This tailings management approach meets current regulatory requirements and is environmentally responsible. The results are:

• Fewer and smaller tailings ponds
• Less river water demand
• Quicker reclamation of the land to a natural state – in years rather than decades

At the end of the mine lifecycle, no mature fines tailings will go into the end-pit lake. This ensures that the lake water can support a diverse aquatic ecosystem.

Land Management

Managing land disturbances is a key factor in the Joslyn North Mine Project’s long-term success. Plans and initiatives include:

• Faster Land Reclamation: Our mine’s "Closure, Conservation and Reclamation Plan" (CC&R) will mitigate impacts to land, soil, vegetation and wildlife. Land will be reclaimed throughout the lifecycle of the operation as opposed to the end. It is estimated that 60% of the Joslyn site will be reclaimed by the mine closure date (2037), and the entire Project is expected to be reclaimed seven years later (2044).
• Compensation Lake: Together with Alberta Environment and the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Total E&P Canada has established a "No Net Loss Compensation Plan": a commitment to build a compensation lake on the Joslyn Asset that replaces any fish habitats affected by our mine development by a ratio greater than 2 to 1.
• Watershed and Drainage Systems: Two watershed drainage systems will be established to address the Joslyn Creek Realignment (JCR): one from the JCR to the Ellis River; and drainage from reclaimed areas to a single pit lake before release to the Ellis River at the end of the Project’s lifecycle.
• Conservation Land: Five hundred hectares will be protected as a conservation offset, which is an addition to the 56 hectares already set aside for the Joslyn SAGD operation.

Water Management

Water is a crucial element in oil sands operations but it must be used responsibly. Total E&P Canada has identified ways of managing our water intake, including:

• 90-Day Water Storage System: A major water management improvement to the Project is a unique 90-day operational water storage system. This system exceeds industry standards and reduces the impact of water withdrawal from the Athabasca River during low flow conditions in winter months, when aquatic life conditions are most sensitive.
• Less Fresh Water Use: It is estimated that up to 85% of the Project’s water requirements will be satisfied using recycled water. During operations, no processed water will be discharged to the environment and all processed water will be managed in a closed circuit processed water recycle system.

Mining Technology

click illustration for larger image

The Project will use many advancements in technology to recover bitumen from oil sands. This will result in less impact on the environment and earlier restoration of the land.

The Project will be developed through conventional truck and shovel mining techniques.

Once extracted, the bitumen will stay in Alberta where it will be processed at the future Voyageur Upgrader in Fort McMurray. Here it will be converted to synthetic crude oil and made ready for the market.