October 2008 issue
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Doing Business
Boeing Helps Launch Heavy Rotorcraft Lifter
BY NORDAHL FLAKSTAD
Freelance Writer
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-Boeing image by Joe Naujokas |
ROTO WONDER |
Calgary-based SkyHook International Inc. is teaming up with aircraft giant Boeing to develop the JHL-40 (Jess Heavy Lifter), a new commercial, heavy-lift rotorcraft designed to economically transport equipment and materials in remote regions.
The SkyHook JHL-40 aircraft will be capable of lifting a 40-ton sling load and transporting it up to 300 kilometres without refuelling — in harsh environments such as Canada’s Arctic.
Boeing is designing and will fabricate two production prototypes of the JHL-40 at its Rotorcraft Systems facility in Ridley Park, Pa. Skyhook will own, maintain, operate and service all JHL-40 aircraft for customers worldwide. The new aircraft will enter commercial service once it’s certified by Canadian and U.S. regulators.
EPCOR, Siemens
Eye Near-Zero Emissions
For Thermal Plant
EPCOR Utilities Inc. has selected technology from Siemens for coal gasification at Canada’s first near-zero emission thermal power plant, to be located west of Edmonton at Genesee.
The initiative forms part of the EPCOR-led front-end engineering and design of a power plant using integrated gasification, combined-cycle technology. Deliverables include improved air quality and capture of carbon emissions for permanent storage.
Siemens will license its coal-gasifier technology to the project. If further investment and construction go as planned, a 270-MW generating station will start operating in 2015.
In another development, EPCOR Power LP has paid Mitsubishi Corp. $77 million US for a 117-MW, natural-gas-fired cogeneration plant at the Equistar Chemicals plant near Chicago.
Devon Moves Ahead With Oilsands Project Devon Energy Corp. has received regulatory approval to start construction of its Jackfish 2 in situ oilsands project.
Jackfish 2 is located six km east of Devon’s existing Jackfish 1 operation near Conklin. When fully operational in 2012, Jackfish 2 will produce about 35,000 barrels per day of oil using steam-assisted, gravity drainage technology.
Devon expects Jackfish 2 to recover about 300 million barrels of oil over its life.
Fort Hills Costs Rise Sharply Petro-Canada now projects that the Fort Hills plant would cost $24 billion — up from the earlier estimate of $14.1 billion for the integrated oilsands mine and bitumen extraction plant.
“We’ve seen a dramatic rise in capital costs in the past year,” said Ron Brennan, Petro-Canada president and CEO. “Once our FEED (front-end engineering end design) work is done, we will develop our definitive cost estimate. This will be the basis for our final investment decision.”
A decision on project go-ahead is expected by year-end. Fort Hills is scheduled to produce 140,000 bbl/d by 2011 and 280,000 bbl/d by 2015.
Petro-Canada owns 60 per cent of Fort Hills Energy LP. UTS Energy Corp. and Teck Cominco Ltd. have 20 per cent stakes. The project site is 90 km north of Fort McMurray.
L-3 SPAR Lands RAF Contract SPAR Aerospace Ltd. in Edmonton has been awarded an $18-million contract from the U.K. Ministry of Defence to perform outer-wing replacements on three Royal Air Force C-130K aircraft. The wings are being reconditioned to meet the RAF’s Hercules Outer Wing Replacement Plan.
Finning and Caterpillar
Heavyweight NAIT Donors
Finning Canada and Caterpillar Inc. are dropping $3 million on the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s heavy equipment programs. Finning is giving $1 million to enhance NAIT’s Heavy Equipment Technician and Industrial Heavy Equipment Technology program, along with $1 million in equipment. The Caterpillar Foundation is providing $1 million in cash.
Talisman Sells
Dutch Assets
A wholly owned subsidiary of Talisman Energy Inc. has sold Talisman’s entire non-operated interests in the Dutch sector of the North Sea for $480 million US. The buyer is Total Holdings Nederland B.V., but the sale is subject to government approval.
ATCO TransCanada
Seeks Efficiencies
For Gas Transmission
Seamless natural gas transmission in Alberta is the goal of a proposal agreed to by ATCO Pipelines and TransCanada Corp.’s wholly owned subsidiary, NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd.
If their plan is approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission, the companies will combine physical assets under a single rates-and-services structure with a single commercial interface with customers. However, each company will manage assets separately within distinct operating territories.
The regulator and customers have encouraged the companies to explore collaboration to streamline natural-gas transmission service. The model is expected to end duplicate tolling and operations, and result in more efficient regulatory processes.
Enbridge and BP
Hook Up
For New Connections
Enbridge Inc. and BP Pipelines (North America) Inc. will develop a new delivery system to transport Canadian heavy crude oil from Flanagan, Ill., to Houston and Texas City, Tex., using existing facilities and new pipeline. The new system, expected to be in service by late 2012, will have an initial total capacity of 250,000 bbl/d for delivery to the Gulf Coast.
To reach markets in Houston and possibly Nederland, Tex., Enbridge and BP will use the BP #1 System and other existing pipelines north of the crude oil hub in Cushing, Okla. Also involved will be some new pipeline construction south of Cushing.
Meanwhile, Enbridge has started construction on its $3-billion Alberta Clipper expansion program. Initial mainline construction started near Hardisty and Provost, Alta., and near Bethune, Sask.
Alberta Clipper involves the construction of a new 36-inch diameter, 1,607-km crude oil pipeline from Hardisty to Superior, Wis.
Precision, Grey Wolf
Agree to Merger
Precision Drilling Trust will acquire Grey Wolf Inc., under a merger agreement their boards have unanimously approved. The agreement follows several attempts by Precision to acquire Houston-based Grey Wolf.
Headquartered in Calgary, Precision provides services to the North American oil and gas industry with its extensive fleet of contract drilling rigs, service rigs, camps, snubbing units, wastewater treatment units and rental equipment.
Grey Wolf provides turnkey and contract oil-and-gas land drilling services in the United States. It has divisions in a number of areas, among them the South Texas, Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountain regions, as well as in Mexico.
SNC-Lavalin Participates in
South African Nuclear Plant
SNC-Lavalin is involved in construction of a commercial-scale nuclear power plant in South Africa. Phase II of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Demonstration Power Plant at Koeberg, South Africa, will supply 165 MW to the country’s national electrical grid.
Murray & Roberts SNC-Lavalin Nuclear (Pty.) Ltd. has been awarded the $253-million contract for engineering, procurement and construction management services for Phase 2, which is expected to be completed in 2014. Phase I was completed in June.
Elsewhere, through its joint venture with Sinclair Knight Merz Joint Venture, SNC-Lavalin has received a $92-million contract for engineering, procurement and construction management services to upgrade Rio Tinto Alcan’s 550,000-tonne-a-year Boyne aluminium smelter in Gladstone, Queensland, Australia.
Power Link
To Montana
Receives EUB Approval
The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board has approved the Canadian side of Montana Alberta Tie Ltd.’s power line from Lethbridge to Great Falls, Mont. The company has been granted a permit to construct the line and a license to operate it.
The EUB concluded that the 346-km, 230-kV AC power line has met all the conditions set out in a board decision when it granted conditional approval in January. The EUB approval amounts to the final major Canadian regulatory hurdle for Montana Alberta Tie.
Construction and operation of the Montana portion of the line hinges on a positive response in an environmental impact assessment of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Shear Minerals
Takes Potash
Land Position
Shear Minerals Ltd. of Edmonton has built a reputation in diamond exploration and development in Canada’s North, but now it’s cast its eyes south on potash. The company has signed an option with Grizzly Diamonds Ltd. to acquire a land position in east-central Alberta for potash.
The Rattlesnake North Property covers 50,000 acres along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, 200 km southeast of Edmonton.
Highway Interchange
Opens in Calgary Area
A recently opened, $40-million interchange east of Calgary will serve motorists near Chestermere and Strathmore, who use Highways 1, 9 and 797. The new interchange replaces an at-grade intersection that had a relatively high collision rate.
Federal Building
Slated For Big Reno
The Alberta Government has committed $200 million to renovate Edmonton’s Federal Building, vacant since 1989. Once restored, the structure will house government offices and meeting space. It should be ready for occupancy in 2011.
The building was designed in the 1930s in the art-deco style and was built in the 1950s. A preliminary engineering study completed last year concluded the building is sound and renovation is feasible and affordable.
An additional $156 million has been approved to construct a 650-stall underground parkade, as well as create a landscaped plaza between the Federal Building and Bowker Building at the north end of the Alberta Legislature grounds.
Oil and Gas Rights Sales
Add to Record Year
British Columbia’s September oil and gas rights sale reached $220 million, adding to a record-setting fiscal year. The value of such sales by the province stand at more than $2 billion.
The September sale offered 105 parcels covering 92,973 hectares in northeasten B.C. It sold 94 of them covering 80,401 hectares, for an average price per hectare of $2,745.
New Condo Office Tower
Planned for Edmonton
The Ironwood Group is proceeding with a 15-storey, $55-million condominium office tower, The Metro, targeted for completion in downtown Edmonton in 2010.
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