- ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP -3.6%) says it has safely delivered its first barrels of oil at its Surmont 2 in-situ oil sands facility in Canada that has been under construction for five years.
- COP says the project in northwestern Alberta will extract heavy oil buried too deep to mine using steam to heat up the thick crude to allow it to flow; the company says Surmont is the largest steam-assisted gravity drainage system in the world.
- It is COP's second and larger phase of a 50/50 joint venture in the Canadian oil sands with Total (TOT); the two projects combined are expected to bring up 150K bbl/day, with the second facility building up production to 118K bbl/day through 2017.