Business
Connacher provides operations update
Connacher provides operations update
About this update from Medexus Pharmaceuticals Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nDec. 4, 2009 (Canada NewsWire Group) -- CALGARY, Dec. 4 /CNW/ -- Connacher Oil and Gas Limited (CLL - TSX) is making significant progress at its Algar 10,000 bbl/d steam-assisted gravity drainage (\"SAGD\") project, the company's second such facility which is part of the company's Great Divide in situ oil sands operation in northeastern Alberta.Construction activity at Algar was reinstated during July 2009, after being temporarily suspended in early 2009 at the time of the collapse in commodity markets and the crisis in financial markets.Since that time construction and drilling at Algar has proceeded with discipline on both cost and timing fronts. The company has completed the drilling of 17 horizontal SAGD well pairs at Algar (34 horizontal well bores) in record time and at a cost of approximately $10 million under budget. As a result of access to superior equipment and crews and with better planning and improvement in the overall execution of the drilling program, Connacher was able to add two extra well pairs to the original program of 15 SAGD well pairs and still realize the savings noted herein. Record per well drilling times of less than five days were recorded for the horizontal wells, drilled to a vertical depth of approximately 450 meters with a horizontal section usually exceeding 700 meters. The wells will be completed and tied in to the Algar plant in time for steam circulation to begin approximately 30 days after the Algar plant is commissioned, now anticipated to occur during late April and early May 2010. Steam will be circulated in the well bores for approximately 90 days thereafter, before the commencement of actual bitumen production from the Algar accumulation.Construction at the plant is also proceeding on time and on budget. Stakeholders are encouraged to visit our website at www.connacheroil.com to view pictures of the progress at the construction site, which is situated east of Great Divide Pod One, Connacher's first 10,000 bbl/d oil sands facility. We post updated photos each Monday morning and will continue to do so as long as there is visible change discernible as a result of our construction activity. We also recently posted time-dated overhead photos of Algar which can be viewed by clicking on Operations/Algar/Algar Slide Show/\"Algar Construction Progress Comparison - August 2009 - Present\"...