March 2006 ISSUE
doing business
Plans Unveiled for
Edmonton Biotech Centre
 |
Kim Ziola, of Brinsmead Ziola Kennedy Architecture, is the designer of those
proposed condominium towers. Plans are to have this project started by July of
2006. |
BY NORDAHL FLAKSTAD
Freelance Writer
Cohos Evamy Partners will design Edmonton Economic Development Corp.’s Biotech-nology Business Development Centre, being built next to the Alberta Research Council in the Edmonton Research Park. The proposed design features 10,000 square feet of shared wet lab space, 50,000 sq. ft. of multi-tenant space, 5,000 sq. ft. of business incubation space and 20,000 sq. ft. for future expansion.
The project is funded primarily by the City of Edmonton, putting in $9.2 million. Western Economic Diversification is adding $2.5 million and Alberta Innovation and Science a further $2.5 million.
Detailed design and engineering plans will be finished in May. Construction will begin in June with a mid-2007 completion.
Housing Squeeze Forcing More Flight
For Horizon Workers
Due to acute housing shortages in the Fort McMurray area, Canadian
Natural Resources Ltd. expects to spend an additional $100 million transporting operating personnel
to and from its Horizon oil sands project, once production begins in 2008.
The mining and producing facility is expected to employ about 2,400 employees once in full operation in 2012 and about 1,300 operating staff will have to commute unless permanent accommodation is found.
Meanwhile, Advanced Technologies Group hopes to give a lift to traffic headed to the oil sands region around Fort McMurray. Represen-tatives of the British company were in Calgary recently in a bid to raise interest in SkyCat, a hybrid lighter-than-air vehicle, as an alterative to transporting people and cargo by road.
The $25-million helium-filled balloon, not yet in production, is designed to transport payloads of up to 20 tonnes. A larger version would carry up to 1,000 tonnes.
Some housing relief is also on the way. It will be some time before Fort McMurray rivals Manhattan, but plans to build 26- and 31-storey condominiums towers will have the oil sands hub reaching for the sky.
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo has rezoned 0.3 hectares to allow for the structure proposed by Bond Street Properties. Kim Ziola of Edmonton is the architect for the project on the project.
Bond Street’s Maurice Yusep expects construction to begin in July on the 31-storey tower and that it will take 22 months to complete. The project is expected to cost $100-125 million.
Fort Hills Picks Sturgeon County As
Upgrader Site
Fort Hills Energy Corp. will build an oil sands upgrader on 1,800 hectares of
land in Sturgeon County, 40 kilometres northeast of Edmonton. The upgrader will
process bitumen from the Fort Hills oil sands mine, 90 km north of Fort McMurray,
into light synthetic crude.
Fort Hills Energy Partnership comprises Petro-Canada, which is the operator
and has a 55 per cent working interest, UTS Energy Corp. with 30 per cent and
Teck Cominco Ltd. with 15 per cent.
The partnership will seek regulatory approval for the upgrader late this year
or early in 2007. The mine is approved for up to 190,000 barrels per day of bitumen
production with a resource of 2.8 billion barrels.
Start-up is planned for the end of the decade. Preliminary cost estimates haven’t been announced yet.
North West Upgrader Readies for
Construction
North West Upgrading Inc. will begin construction of its $1.6 billion upgrader
near Redwater in the fall of 2007. The independent facility will process bitumen
from a number of Fort McMurray-area producers.
It will be built in three, 50,000-barrel-a day phases. Initial production is scheduled for 2010.
Focus Corp. Buys Cadastral Group
Focus Corp. has acquired Calgary-based Cadastral Group Inc., a well-established
land surveying company with more than 240 employees, providing services exclusively
to the oil and gas industry.
John Holmlund, Focus CEO and president, said: “With the addition of Cadastral,
Focus will become the largest provider of land surveying, mapping and related
services to the oil and gas industry.”
Added Cadastral President Stephen Green, P.Eng.: “Joining Focus will achieve our vision of being the market leader in the delivery of land surveying, mapping and related services to the oil and gas industry.”
Focus is a multi-disciplinary consulting firm providing a range of engineering, geomatics, planning and project management services to clients involved in oil and gas, oil sands, infrastructure, land development and environmental projects. With the Cadastral acquisition, Focus will employ more than 900 staff in 15 offices throughout Western Canada.
EnCana Gets OK For B.C. Gas Plant
EnCana Corp. has received approval to build a $60-million natural gas processing
plant, 50 km south of Dawson Creek, B.C. The plant, approved by the British
Columbia Oil and Gas Commission, will process 198 million cubic feet of gas per
day.
TRLabs Signs Accords With Asian Partners
TRLabs, Canada’s largest information and communications technology research
consortium, has signed major agreements with government-owned agencies in Asia.
An accord reached with China Railway calls for development of multimedia services in rail cars and stations. The second collaboration involves TRLabs and iPark Silicon Valley, a support organization operated by the Republic of Korea’s IT Promotion Agency.
With labs in Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg, not-for-profit TRLabs employs 250. Its 49 partner members are involved in data networking, digital media, health, home technologies, network systems, photonics and wireless communications.
Oil Sands Lease Sale Sets Record
Alberta has set a record with a one-day sale of $560 million worth of oil sands
leases. That surpasses the record $443 million garnered by the province in 2005.
Of the latest leases sold, $465 million worth were purchased by one buyer, a numbered company. The latest per-hectare prices were nearly three times those fetched last year.
Alberta Forestry Takes a Hit
Declining commodity prices, a higher Canadian dollar and increased costs have
chopped into the profitability of Alberta’s forestry sector. The Alberta
Forest Products Association says that the value of Alberta production in the
first three quarters of 2005 decreased by $550.4 million to $2.88 billion, when
compared with the same period the preceding year.
Declines have been particularly significant in the lumber sector. The association notes that five lumber mills and 450 jobs have been lost since 2002. That year, Alberta ranked first in profitability in a survey of 24 regions around the world.
Particle Mill Shuts Down
Northern Engineered Wood Products Inc. is closing its particle mill in Wanham,
Alta., 675 km northwest of Edmonton. Closure of the mill, opened in 2000, means
the loss of 50 jobs.
The plant depended on Canfor’s Hines Creek mill, 60 km away, to supply wood waste and sawdust for feedstock. Closure of the Canfor plant has reduced supply, and so has the increased use by petroleum servicing firms of forest-product waste as a drilling absorbent.
CN Rail Re-acquires Alberta Shortlines
CN Rail has purchased the Alberta shortline railways owned by RailAmerica, Inc.,
of Boca Raton, Fla., for $26 million.
CN is buying the Mackenzie Northern Railway and the Lakeland & Waterways Railway, both north of Edmonton. The transaction includes the Central Western Railway, a 340-kilometre railway in east-central Alberta. CN, which sold the lines to RailAmerica nine years ago, will spend $40 million over three years upgrading the lines.
Except for a small part of Central Western, all of the lines connect with CN’s network. CN will upgrade Mackenzie Northern and Lakeland & Waterways tracks to improve customer service and rail efficiencies. This will also maximize the lines’ potential for hauling larger volumes of oil and gas infrastructure building materials, oil sands byproducts, min-erals, and forest and grain products.
The 964-km Mackenzie Northern runs north from Smith, Alta., 210 km north of Edmonton, to Hay River, N.W.T. Lakeland & Waterways, which connects with CN near Edmonton, has 190 km of track and extends to Boyle, Alta., where it links to the Athabasca Northern Railway.
AEUB Denies Licence To Advantage Oil & Gas
Alberta Energy and Utilities Board has denied applications by Advantage Oil & Gas
Ltd. for a multi-well sour oil battery licence and two multi-well sour oil satellite
licences near Wildwood, west of Edmonton.
The applications were denied because Advantage did not:
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seriously evaluate any alternative sites within the field to address concerns raised by interveners residing near the site
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put sufficient effort into consulting with potentially impacted parties.
In 2004 neighbouring landowners notified the AEUB that Advantage’s corporate predecessor had constructed the facilities without the correct AEUB facility licences.
The AEUB will allow the company to submit another application that takes
into account alternative battery sites and consults with area residents.
Enbridge Inc.
Has Alberta Clipper Line On Drawing Board
Enbridge Inc. has unveiled intentions for its Alberta Clipper project, involving
a 36-inch, 3,000-kilometre oil pipeline from Hardisty, Alta., to Superior, Wisc.
The line will interconnect with the existing mainline system to provide access to a full range of delivery points and storage options, including Chicago, Sarnia and Toledo, Ohio. The line would involve an investment of $1.8 billion and have an initial capacity of 400,000 bb/d.
Keystone PipelineTakes Forward Step
TransCanada Corp. has secured long-term contracts totalling 340,000 bb/d for
its planned Keystone Oil Pipeline. TransCanada will proceed with regulatory filings
for approval of the estimated $2.1 billion US pipeline, which will transport
crude oil from Hardisty, Alta., to Patoka, Ill.
Public and stakeholder consultation and detailed engineering will continue through 2006. TransCanada will file project applications with the National Energy Board in 2006. Work, including conversion of portions of the line, now designed to carry natural gas, is proposed to begin in late 2007. Commercial operations will start in 2009.
A memorandum of understanding between TransCanada and ConocoPhillips Pipe Line Company gives ConocoPhillips the right to acquire up to a 50 per cent interest in the project.
Enerflex Systems Sells Compression Equipment
For Coalbed Methane Use
The Engineered Systems Group of Enerflex Systems Ltd. of Calgary has been selected
by two major Canadian natural-gas producers to supply compression equipment valued
at $45 million. To be installed in Western Canada, the equipment being delivered
in 2006 and 2007 will be used mainly to produce coalbed methane reserves.