October 2006 ISSUE
DOING BUSINESS
New Centre Formed For Aerospace Development
BY NORDAHL FLAKSTAD
Freelance Writer
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THE BEFORE PICTURE - Edmonton has announced plans to redevelop 16 blocks of a rundown district east of the core. Right now, many windows are covered with graffiti-covered boards, and passages such as this one are litter-strewn and uninviting. |
The Calgary Airport Authority has unveiled plans for a national aerospace centre for the development, testing and evaluation of general aviation and unmanned vehicle products and services.
Components of Canadian Centre for Aerospace Development will be located at three sites. These include development, test and evaluation facilities, called the Canadian Centre for Unmanned Vehicle Systems, in Medicine Hat; a research and international centre at the Calgary International Airport; and the Canadian Centre for Aircraft Certification at Springbank Airport, west of Calgary.
Construction of the Springbank project begins this fall, with completion
scheduled for next summer.
The airport authority is negotiating with up to five aerospace companies for
use of the new facilities, which will offer the benefits of relatively high altitude
and uncrowded air space.
Edmonton Plans New Development Near City Core
The City of Edmonton has outlined a $60-million plan to redevelop 16 blocks just east of the downtown core. Plans for the rundown area include development of a tree-lined corridor down to the North Saskatchewan River.
Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel says construction could start within two years
and involve $6 to $12 million in support from the city. Most of the financing
would come from private sources.
Dow Announces Plant Closures
Dow Chemical Canada Inc. says a decision to close two of its seven Fort Saskatchewan petrochemical plants is because of their age and international competition. The announcements were accompanied by the shutdown of four Dow plants in Sarnia, Ont., and one in Italy.
In Fort Saskatchewan, the company will shut down its chlor-alkali and direct chlorination ethylene dichloride plants by the end of October, resulting in the loss of 170 jobs.
The decision was driven by the substantial capital costs required to maintain long-term operations at the 27-year-old facilities — an investment Dow says it could not justify based on expected rates of return.
Edmonton Wins LAV III Servicing
General Dynamics Land Systems Canada is opening an Edmonton plant to maintain Canadian Forces LAV III armoured personnel carriers.
The 108,000-square-foot operation will employ about 100 people for the service of the carriers, which are used in Afghanistan. The plant will also retrofit similar units used at Canadian Forces bases in Edmonton and Wainwright.
At a given time, the facility will service about 30 of the Canadian military’s 600-plus LAV III carriers, built by General Dynamics in London, Ont.
AEUB Approves Scotford Expansion
Pending Alberta cabinet approval, the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board has approved an expansion of Shell Canada Ltd.’s Scotford Upgrader, northeast of Edmonton.
Shell intends to make a final investment decision on the project in the fourth quarter of 2006. First bitumen production is expected in late 2009, followed by upgrader production in late 2010.
The expansion opens the way for increased production by the Athabasca Oil Sands Project — a joint venture by Shell, Chevron Canada Ltd. and Western Oil Sands — to 550,000 barrels per day.
xpansion of the joint venture’s Muskeg River Mine was the subject of a separate combined hearing by the AEUB and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, starting in early September.
Meanwhile, AEUB and Shell reported a Sept. 12 gas release containing small quantities of hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide, which occurred at the Scotford Upgrader. The residue hydro conversion unit it happened in has since been taken out of service.
About 1,400 employees and contractors from the refinery, upgrader and chemical plant were evacuated to safe locations within the Scotford complex. There were no injuries.
Alberta Provides More Money For School Construction
The Government of Alberta has outlined spending plans of $303.3 million on 15 new schools, six new major preservation and modernization projects for schools, over the next four years.
The planned spending includes $32 million in funding for two new schools in the Grande Prairie area, $42.3 million for a replacement high school in Stony Plain, and four new Calgary schools with a combined value of almost $60 million. Construction of a new, Grade-5-to-12 community school in Anzac, in northeast Alberta, will receive $18.3 million in provincial support.
The total allocation for school capital projects — including infrastructure maintenance and renewal — contains $41 million in cost-escalation for previously announced projects dollars. This additional money addresses current construction market conditions.
Canadian Natural Resources Acquires Anadarko Canada
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. will pay $4.1 billion US for Anadarko Canada Corp., a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. of Houston, Tex.
Anadarko Canada’s land and production are primarily in Western Canada.
Production from the working interests acquired by CNRL consists of about 358
million cubic feet per day of natural gas and 9,300 bbl/d of crude oil and natural
gas liquids. However, assets also include some 1.5 million undeveloped acres
and key strategic facilities in northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta.
Anadarko’s interests in the Mackenzie Delta and other Canadian Arctic frontier
properties are excluded from the sale.
Focus Corp. Announces Expansion
Focus Corp. is finalizing three recent acquisitions to expand the ranks, scope and expertise of its multi-disciplinary consultancy.
The company has acquired DPH Engineering Inc. of
Calgary, which adds 270 employees to the engineering and geomatics company. DPH
is an established engineering, procurement and construction management firm with
core business in Western Canada’s upstream oil and gas sector.
Focus has also announced the signing of a letter of intent to acquire Sunbow
Consulting Ltd., an employee-owned professional service firm providing
engineering and legal surveying to the land development industry in greater Calgary.
Established 30 years ago, this leading firm in land development has 70 employees
and a solid client base.
Checked off the shopping list as well is GPEC Consulting Ltd., a civil engineering consulting firm that comprises 70 employees working from offices in Grande Prairie, Peace River, Edmonton and Camrose. GPEC, founded in 1984, is involved in land development, highway and other transportation work, municipal engineering, commercial buildings and recreation projects.
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. Focus employs more than 1,500 staff in 19 offices throughout Western Canada.
FMC Technologies Buys Galaxy Oilfield
FMC Technologies of Houston, Tex., has bought Edmonton’s Galaxy Oilfield Service Ltd. With a staff of 44, Galaxy supplies high-temperature equipment used in thermal well production in the oil sands industry. The acquisition allows FMC’s surface wellhead business to expand its heavy-oil extraction capabilities, as well as address the projected growth of oil sands production in Canada and in other heavy-oil markets.
FMC has about 10,000 employees and 32 manufacturing plants in 17 countries.
Husky Completes Tucker Project
Husky Energy Inc. has completed construction of its Tucker
oil sands project near Cold Lake. Steam injection into the reservoir commenced
on Aug. 20 and initial oil production is anticipated in November.
Peak production of more than 30,000 bbl/d is anticipated within two years. Husky
expects to produce about 350 million barrels of bitumen during the project’s
35-year life. Total project capital costs are below the budget of $500 million.
Husky will also expand its mainline crude oil pipeline between Lloydminster and its terminal at Hardisty to handle the increased production. Completion of this $100 million, 80-km pipeline expansion is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2007.
Plans to Upgrade Electrical Grid Given Go-Ahead
The Alberta Electric System Operator has received approval from the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board for a $300-million reinforcement to strengthen the northwestern area of the provincial power grid by 2009.
The approval follows other approved and planned transmission system enhancements
that will see about $1 billion invested to strengthen Alberta’s transmission
system. These projects include reinforcing the backbone of the power grid between
Edmonton and Calgary, as well as strengthening the system in southwestern Alberta,
around the cities of Edmonton and Calgary, and in the southeast.
“We are pleased the EUB approved all the transmission facilities we applied
for in our northwest needs document,” said Neil Millar, P.Eng.,
operator vice-president of transmission. “These are critical facilities
to continue to reliably meet the electricity needs of consumers in northwestern
Alberta.”
BA Energy Raises Funds For Heartland
BA Energy Inc. has successfully closed a private share placement, raising about $115 million for engineering and construction for the Heartland Upgrader.
Located in Strathcona County near Edmonton, the merchant upgrader is being developed in three phases. First-phase start-up is scheduled for mid-2008.
Initially the upgrader will process about 77,500 bbl/d of bitumen blend and eventually 260,000 bbl/d. Engineering services for the upgrader are being provided by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. and Larsen & Toubro Ltd.
Ray Cej, P.Eng., BA Energy president, said the company expects to file a preliminary prospectus for its initial public offering early in the fourth quarter of this year.
Talisman Ready to Sell Oil Sands Assets
At a time when international players are snapping up Alberta oil sands assets, Talisman Energy Inc. appears headed in the other direction.
The company has announced plans to auction off its Alberta oil sands assets, including its 1.25 per cent indirect interest in Syncrude and its interest in oil sands leases near Suncor’s Steepbank mine. Also on the block is Talisman’s 75 per cent working interest in an 8,826-hectare, undeveloped oil sands lease near OPTI/Nexen’s steam-assisted gravity drainage project in Long Lake.
Gold Producers Form New Combinations
Through a transaction worth $21.3 billion US, Goldcorp Inc. and Glamis Gold Ltd. will combine to create one of the world’s largest gold-mining companies. It will operate under the name Goldcorp.
Goldcorp is North America’s third largest gold producer and one of the world’s fastest-growing gold producers, with operations throughout the Americas and Australia.
In Toronto, IAMGOLD Corp. and Cambior Inc. announced a deal worth $3 billion US to create a new gold-producing company to continue under the name IamGold.
IAMGOLD has four operating gold mines in Mali and Ghana and one operating gold mine in Botswana. Cambior is an international gold producer with operations and activities throughout the Americas.
Bowden Refinery Gets New Lease on Life
Parkland Income Fund is reopening the Bowden refinery, a familiar landmark for travelers on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway between Calgary and Edmonton.
Mothballed for five years, the plant previously produced gasoline and diesel fuel. Working with the INEOS Canada Partnership at Joffre, it now will make synthetic fluids for drilling rigs.
Parkland owns more than 500 service stations operating under various brands.
Ontario Government Taps TELUS
Ontario’s Ministry of Government Services has picked TELUS to provide, manage and supply its portfolio of network services, including IT security, for the entire network of the Government of Ontario. The five-year contract is worth $140 million.