CALGARY, Alberta - Synenco Energy Inc said Thursday it has asked Canadian regulators to approve the mining portion of the C$5.3 billion Northern Lights oil sands project the firm is building with Chinese partner Sinopec Corp.
Synenco said it has asked the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board and Alberta Environment for permission to build the C$1.7 billion oil sands mine 100 km (62 miles) north of Fort McMurray, Alberta.
The Calgary-based company, which has a 60 percent stake in the project, said the mine will produce 114,000 barrels of tar-like bitumen a day, beginning in 2010.
The filing is the latest in C$125 billion worth of projects proposed or under construction in Canada's oil sands region surrounding Fort McMurray.
The area contains an estimated 174 billion barrels of recoverable oil, a resource second in size only to Saudi Arabia. However separating the oil from the sand is expensive and technically challenging.
A separate C$3.6 billion upgrading refinery, which converts bitumen into synthetic crude, is to be built near Edmonton, Synenco said it expects to file for regulatory clearance for that portion of the project later this year.
(US$1=$1.11 Canadian)
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
