Connacher’s plant goes off the regional grid

CALGARY: Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd., a Calgary-based crude oil, bitumen, natural gas and natural gas liquids production company, has completed its 13.1 megawatt cogeneration facility at its Algar steam-assisted gravity drainage bitumen extraction plant in the Great Divide region of northeastern Alberta on-time and on-budget.

The plant was commissioned in late August 2010 and integrated with the Algar plant in early September 2010.

The cogeneration facility was designed to meet current power needs at Algar, making it an island from the region’s electrical grid. And it’s anticipated that once the local power utility completes a nearby regional substation in 2011, any surplus power could be sold from the Algar plant into the regional electrical grid, as initial utilization will be below design capacity during production ramp-up and prior to the installation of any pumps and related equipment.

The activation of the Algar cogeneration plant is also expected to contribute to increased power reliability at Connacher’s Great Divide Pod One facility, as local grid supply is no longer required. This improved power reliability will minimize grid related power outages on pump durability and resultant production performance at Pod One.

The cogeneration plant cost about $30 million and was completed and activated without incident approximately two weeks ahead of schedule.