Imperial Oil Ltd News

U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp. has withdrawn its environmental assessment application for a $25-billion LNG export facility on the B.C. coast it proposed in 2015. No reasons given for withdrawing from environmental review process.“After careful review, ExxonMobil Canada and Imperial Oil Resources have withdrawn the WCC LNG project from the B.C. Environmental Assessment process,” a notice on WCC LNG website says. It also says that its websie will only be available until the end of 2018.WCC LNG is a proposed project to develop and operate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at Tuck Inlet in Prince Rupert, British Columbia.According to a Reuters report…

U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday slammed an agreement made with Canada to ban offshore Arctic drilling, saying Ottawa's plan to review its ban every five years gives Canada a leg up on energy exploration. U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced a ban on new oil and gas drilling federal waters in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, while Canada instituted a similar ban in its Arctic waters. Unlike the United States, where the ban is indefinite, Canada said it will review its restrictions every five years.

Canada's offshore Arctic drilling rules could "stifle" development since they do not provide incentives for companies to proceed with production after discovering oil, the government was told in a newly-released internal briefing note. The advice was prepared for the government's point man on the issue, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Minister Bernard Valcourt, before Imperial Oil Ltd lobbied him privately in June, seeking concessions on existing legislation. The right-leaning Conservative government said in July it would review the legislation, known as the Canada Petroleum Resources Act. To drill in the Canadian Arctic, companies need an exploratory licence, awarded with a fixed term.

The operator of Canada's largest synthetic crude project said on Saturday it is investigating the causes of an early morning fire at an upgrading plant. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, at Syncrude Canada's Mildred Lake upgrading complex in northern Alberta, and no one was injured, said company spokesman Will Gibson in a phone interview. The fire broke out a few hours after the province's energy regulator announced it was shutting in 95 pipelines operated by Nexen, one of the partners in the project, because of safety issues identified following a large oil-related spill in July. But he said it was too soon to know how production would be affected.

Alberta's energy regulator said on Saturday it is investigating reports that about 30 blue herons have died at a Syncrude Canada oil sands mine site in the northern part of the Canadian province. The Alberta Energy Regulator said it sent investigators to the Syncrude Canada Mildred Lake site, which is about 40 km (25 miles) north of Fort McMurray. In 2010, Syncrude was fined C$3 million ($2.29 million) for negligence in the 2008 deaths of 1,600 ducks in a toxic waste pond, a case that fueled international concern about the environmental impact of developing Canada's oil sands. Syncrude's partners include Canadian Oil Sands Ltd, Imperial Oil Ltd, Suncor Energy Inc, Sinopec , CNOOC Ltd's Nexen, Japan's Mocal Energy and Murphy Oil Co.

Imperial Oil Ltd said on Friday it and partners Exxon Mobil Corp  and BP Plc need more time before they can drill an exploratory well in Canadian Arctic waters and are seeking an extension to their exploration license in the region. Pius Rolheiser, a spokesman for Imperial, said the license for the group's exploration parcel in the Beaufort Sea, a section of the Arctic Ocean, expires in 2020. He said the group is asking the Canadian government for a seven-year extension so it can complete the requirements of the regulatory process and have adequate time to make a decision on how, or when, it will drill a well in the region. "There's a significant amount of work between where we are today and where we would need to be if we were to drill a well by 2020," Rolheiser said.

Imperial Oil Ltd said on Friday it is deferring plans to drill an exploratory well in the Beaufort Sea in Canada's Arctic as it seeks an extension to the length of its exploration license in the region.   Pius Rolheiser, a spokesman for the company, said the license, which it shares with Exxon Mobil Corp and BP Plc, expires in 2020 and it is asking the Canadian government for a nine-year extension so it can complete the regulatory process and have adequate time to make a decision on how or when it will drill a well in the region.     (Reporting by Scott Haggett; Editing by Tom Brown)

Imperial Oil Ltd said on Tuesday it has completed a two-week major maintenance turnaround at its 110,000 barrel per day Kearl oil sands mine in northern Alberta. Imperial 69.6 percent owned by Exxon Mobil Corp said work was carried out over the last two weeks of September and involved maintenance on the ore preparation plant and other systems. (Reporting by Scott Haggett; Editing by David Gregorio)

City councilors in South Portland, Maine, voted late Monday night to ban the loading of crude oil onto tankers along its waterfront, throwing up yet another roadblock to the export of Canadian oil sands crude and setting up a showdown with industry which called the process illegal. The city of 25,000, known for its scenic lighthouses and sweeping views of the island-speckled waters of Casco Bay, is also the east coast's second largest oil port, located at the southern terminus of the Portland-Montreal Pipeline, which currently flows north to Canada.

Imperial Oil Ltd said on Thursday it is not yet close to deciding on whether it will go ahead with a Canadian liquefied natural gas export plant it is exploring with its majority owner Exxon Mobil Corp. Speaking to reporters following the company's annual meeting, Rich Kruger, chief executive officer of Canada's No.2 integrated oil company, said Imperial is laying groundwork for a potential project that would send LNG to Asian markets but, despite having an export license in hand, it is not yet ready to say if or when the project will proceed. "What you're seeing from us ...

PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd., Canada's No. 2 oil company, could soon be on track to develop an East Coast offshore gas project to rival the huge Sable Island project, its chief executive said. PanCanadian, the oil and gas arm of conglomerate Canadian Pacific Ltd., plans to drill two appraisal wells this year near its recent Deep Panuke gas discoveries, made at the site of the exhausted Copan oil project off Nova Scotia. The wells will give the company the geological data it needs to decide whether to pursue more drilling or full development, PanCanadian CEO David Tuer said. Two recent wells drilled into the gas formation beneath the old oil reservoir tested at more than 50 million cubic feet a day each.