Thermal plan denied

By Tonya Zelinsky

 28 June 2012 22:59 GMT

ALBERTA’S energy regulator has denied an application to build a 10,000-barrel-per-day thermal oil sands project in the Canadian province, using electrical heating instead of steam-assisted gravity drainage, writes Tonya Zelinsky.

The Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) has determined there is not enough evidence from E-T Energy’s electro-thermal dynamic stripping process (ET-DSP) field test to support sustained production. The field test is still under way and the results are not expected until either the end of 2012 or early 2013.

“Based on the limited production data available to-date, the ERCB was of the view that E-T Energy has not demonstrated that ET-DSP is capable of obtaining or sustaining commercial bitumen production rates,” said the regulator.

E-T Energy touts its trademarked ET-DSP as being “environmentally-friendly”…

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