Japan Canada Oil Sands Ltd. (JACOS) officially opened their new project.
The Hangingstone Expansion Project is a joint venture in which JACOS holds a 75 per cent interest, while NEXEN Energy holds the remaining 25 per cent.
Premier Rachel Notley and multiple company officials from Japan were on site Wednesday for the grand opening.
She said the opening of this facility is a vote of confidence in the community, industry and in Alberta.
“These industry leaders, several of them, still have a tremendous amount of confidence in the economic case and their ability to move forward on a sustainable way, to build this project and to in fact expand the degree which their exporting not only through North America, but markets all over the world,” added Notley.
The company expects production to continue for about 30 years, using the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) method.
Currently the project is producing about 1,000 barrels of oil a day, full production is expected to reach approximately 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the middle of next year.
First steam was achieved back at the end of April and first oil was on Aug. 3.
