The Advanced TriStar (ATS) Project can ultimately confirm an efficient, and synergistic in situ production and processing scheme for the Alberta Oil Sands, fully aligned with the mission to provide Value Chain Solutions to serve the Oil Sands and Refining Industries globally.

The ATS Project is designed to fully apply VCI’s proprietary bitumen production and transformation technologies to obtain excellent economic and environmental performance.  When fully implemented, the ATS Project is expected to achieve the following step changes:

• Fundamental Robustness against Light-Heavy Differential Volatilities – achieved by innovative and cost-effective integration of Resource Development and Merchant “Upgrading” of bitumen from other producers, to produce broadly marketable premium medium crudes;

• “Last-Man-Standing” Robustness against Low Oil Price – achieved by synergistic application of proprietary technologies, to achieve step changes in capital and operating costs, transportation volume, and cost per barrel of equivalent bitumen production, producing premium medium crudes suitable for a majority of global refining markets;

• Most competitive economic performance in Oil Sands Industry, for equivalent Premium Crude production, and more competitive than the majority new shale oil projects (based on current knowledge);

• Step-change Market Opening - production of premium medium crudes, which are readily transportable in pipelines and can be processed by the majority of refineries globally, as compared with very limited markets for Diluted Bitumen;

• Reduction of about HALF of transportation volumes/costs per barrel of equivalent bitumen production, thus significantly debottlenecking pipeline constraints and eliminating “diluent profit leakage”;

• Industry-Leading Sustainable Performance in Footprint  and Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions   – due to game-changing Mechanical Simplicity and Energy Efficiency of proprietary technologies;

• Most efficient Decarbonization in terms of cost, energy, and GHG emission at wellhead.  Storage of asphaltenes at exhausted mine sites would be the most cost- and energy-efficient equivalent GHG sequestration.  This, and above, constitute a “Clean Oil” image and reality; and

• Service to Industry, providing optimum Value Chain Solutions for the Oil Sands producers.

 

The ATS Project will be developed in two phases: ATS-1 and ATS-2.  Each phase is planned to process 60,000 bpsd bitumen, including 30,000 bpsd of imported bitumen in the form of DilBit from third party suppliers, and 30,000 bpsd of own bitumen produced by our Condensibles-Steam In Situ Recovery (CSIR™) method. The imported bitumen will be combined with the produced bitumen emulsion to be processed in the Accelerated DeContamination (ADC™) and Clean Oil Cracking (COC™) units.  The diluent-free Clean Oil La-Fit (COLF) product will be transported to refineries via pipeline.

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The integrated application for the ATS Project was registered with the Alberta Energy Regulator September 25, 2012. Alberta Environment and Parks deemed the Environmental Impact Assessment for the ATS Project complete March 17, 2016.