Canada's largest oil and gas producer Canadian Natural Resources has announced its intentions to expand its output from its main oil sands mine located in northern Alberta (Canada). The Horizon mining and upgrading plant currently produces about 255 kb/d of synthetic crude oil made from bitumen, with the expansion representing a 195 kb/d increase of additional bitumen production through new extraction and treatment processes. According to the company, the expansion depends upon new pipeline export capacity, considering the start-up of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion of which it expects to benefit by mobilizing 94 kb/d. Canadian Natural Resources also expects to obtain governmental financial support for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project proposed by the Pathways Alliance group, which the company is part of.
At the end of 2022, oil sands and raw bitumen accounted for about 60 % of Canada’s total oil production, with most of bituminous oil sand coming from Alberta.