Sunday, February 18, 2018

NEW TECHNOLOGY IN THE OILPATCH IN R & D STAGE

   CALGARY — Two years after a blue-ribbon panel called on the Alberta government to encourage partial upgrading of bitumen from the oilsands to enhance value and free up more pipeline room for exports, the idea remains years away from commercialization.
  Fractal said it has processed more than 225,000 barrels of diluted bitumen trucked to a 1,000-barrel-per-day pilot plant from steam-driven oilsands operations in northern Alberta. The facility succeeded in reducing the need for diluent by up to 53 per cent while improving oil quality through the reduction of olefins and acidity, the company said.
  Fractal CEO Alex Pourbaix:  “We’re seeing some positive indications but I think we’re still in what I would call the R and D stage,” he said. “It isn’t something we’re going to be rolling out on a commercial basis in the short term.”


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