Christina Lake

Foster Creek

Christina Lake, a top-tier reservoir with huge potential for growth, is one of our two industry-leading oil sands producing projects. Located about 120 kilometres south of Fort McMurray, Alberta, we started Christina Lake in 2000. The oil at Christina Lake is located about 375 metres below the surface and requires specialized technology, like steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) to drill and pump it to the surface. This project is 50 percent owned by ConocoPhillips.

Our growth plans

Christina Lake is at an earlier stage of development than our Foster Creek project. It, too, will be grown in carefully planned phases so we can apply what we learn from one phase to the next. Christina Lake has seven phases planned so far. Phases A, B, C and D are in operation while phase E is under construction. Plans for phases F and G have received regulatory approval, and an application for Phase H is expected to be submitted for regulatory review in 2013, which are expected to increase production capacity to 288,000 gross barrels per day when completed. With additional expansion phases and optimization work, we believe total gross production capacity has the potential to reach 300,000 barrels per day.

Did you know?

A typical well pad, which covers about 10 to 12 acres of surface land, can access about 185 acres of resource underground.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Cenovus presents production volumes on a net to Cenovus before royalties basis, unless otherwise stated.

The EIA was filed by EnCana FCCL Ltd., operator of FCCL Partnership at the time of filing, as part of the provincial regulatory process. EnCana FCCL Ltd. is now Cenovus FCCL Ltd., a member of the Cenovus Energy Inc. group of companies, and continues to operate the Christina Lake Thermal Project in its capacity as operator of FCCL Partnership.