The Kearl oil sands project is finally producing bitumen, Imperial Oil Ltd. announced Saturday.

The project uses a froth-treatment technology to produce pipeline-quality diluted bitumen without an upgrader, which the company says reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Located about 75 kilometres northeast of Fort McMurray, the mine is expected to produce approximately 4.6 billion barrels of bitumen over an estimated project life of more than four decades.

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EDMONTON – Imperial Oil’s $10.9-billion Kearl oilsands project, located 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, is just days away from producing its first oil.

“We continue to make good progress toward completing startup and we expect production of mined diluted bitumen from the first froth treatment train in this quarter,” said spokesman Pius Rolheiser.

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EDMONTON – As Imperial Oil’s (TSX:IMO) $10.9-billion Kearl oilsands project edges toward a startup that is just weeks away, the ignition of the second boiler is something of a milestone.

“That should happen later this week and then steam will be blown through the boilers and heat exchangers to complete the heat tracing,” said Imperial spokesman Pius Rolheiser. “We have already started the mining operations and are stockpiling the bitumen ore near the ore preparation train,” he said, referring to the start of the process that takes oilsands ore from mine to bitumen recovery to blending to pipeline.

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