Imperial Oil may be forced to cease its operations in Norman Wells in the next couple of years SA国际影视传媒� and its ongoing production struggles could leave the community without power as soon as this winter.
Headquartered in Calgary, Imperial Oil has had a presence in Norman Wells since 1944. The company not only extracts petroleum and natural gas in the area, but provides electricity for the community of about 700 people through its central processing facility.
Imperial Oil has been operating its Norman Wells facilities at reduced production since 2022 as efforts are made to replace pipelines between the local Bear and Goose Islands.
If those upgrades are completed soon, operations could continue into the next decade. If not, oil production in the community could cease in the next couple of years.
"We are still in the regulatory process for the approvals needed to complete the replacement work," said company spokesperson Lisa Schmidt. "We have requested a decision on the regulatory processes by Oct. 1, 2024, to allow for reasonable flexibility in project funding and contracting for equipment delivery via winter roads to finish the project in 2025.
"Our team is working extremely hard to return the operation to full production. If we can complete the project in 2025, we expect our operation to continue for another five to 10 years. Without timely regulatory approvals, the operation is likely to shut down by 2026, and potentially even earlier, due to insufficient gas production."
If Imperial Oil's operations in Norman Wells halt, the community SA国际影视传媒� which is already suffering from a surging cost of living SA国际影视传媒� will need to find new long-term power solutions.
Unfortunately, it may become a problem much sooner than that.
Because of the lower production at Imperial Oil's facilities, the company may soon have to "shut-in" some of its oil wells, which would mean it is unable to produce electricity for the town.
There is a chance this will happen this coming winter, when temperatures frequently drop below -30 C.
"While the risk is currently low, a potential scenario could involve an approximately three-month outage during the coldest period, when electricity demand is highest," Schmidt acknowledged. "Lower oil production means we produce less natural gas to run the turbine to generate electricity, and this winter, the natural gas we produce may not be sufficient supply for our operation as well as the town.
"Imperial is making every effort to maintain production and avoid a temporary shut-in scenario," she added. "We have provided an update to Northwest Territories Power Corporation and the town on this situation to support potential contingency planning and are working to facilitate sufficient diesel supply in the region, to support back-up power generation for the community."
