Petro-Canada puts big Alberta upgrader project on hold

摘要

Vancouver-Partners in Alberta's Fort Hills oil sands project have pulled back from a sanctioning decision this year, with operator Petro-Canada declaring November 17 it is ready to cancel existing contracts and purchase orders in hopes of slashing the venture's estimated price tag of C$23.8 billion ($19.6 billion). The partnership said it has put on hold indefinitely a planned upgrader, currently expected to cost C$10 billion, and will delay a final investment decision on the mining portion from next month until "well into 2009," said Neil Carmata, Petro-Canada's senior vice-president of oil sands.