This is potentially a legacy company beginning to make quiet but powerful news around the globe with their patented Heavy to Light oil conversion technology. Though they have oil lands and agreements for more the massive diamond in final stages of being cut to market specifications is this technology. Breakthrough in scope, design, effeciency, mobility, scalability, cost, ROI and most of all a current niche need that the world hungers for.
What do they say, 'If you build it they will come...still at near ground level pps.
news.moneycentral.msn.com
April 27, 2006 08:20:00 AM ET
Preparations under way for upcoming test runs at Ivanhoe Energy's heavy oil upgrading facility in California
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Canadian Athabasca bitumen on-site for testing
BAKERSFIELD, CA, April 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Preparations are well under way in advance of key upcoming test runs at Ivanhoe Energy Inc.'s (NASDAQ: IVAN and TSX: IE) heavy oil upgrading Commercial Demonstration Facility (CDF) in California.
Ivanhoe Energy's CDF is being prepared for a series of test runs that will demonstrate the processing of Athabasca bitumen and vacuum tower bottoms (VTB's) in a "High Quality" configuration. This configuration, appropriate for numerous resource opportunities around the world, including the Athabasca oil sands in Western Canada, produces a more fully upgraded product, as well as maximum amounts of by-product energy.
In order to carry out these runs, a number of upgrades and enhancements to the CDF were required. These upgrades were primarily related to peripheral equipment linked to the handling of raw feed and the processed product, as well as equipment redundancy and back-up for more extended runs.
These upgrades were originally expected to take 4-6 weeks. As a result of the extremely tight markets in the industry for oilfield personnel and equipment and additional minor improvements that extended the original timeline, we have experienced some delay. Ivanhoe Energy currently anticipates commencing the next set of runs at the end of May. Athabasca bitumen has been shipped from Western Canada and is currently at the CDF in onsite storage ready for processing.
The data from upcoming runs will allow Ivanhoe Energy to initiate the site-specific design and engineering for full commercial 10,000 to 15,000 barrel-per-day plants.
Ivanhoe Energy's heavy oil upgrading technology produces lighter, more valuable crude oil at lower costs and in smaller-sized plants than conventional technologies. The technology addresses the four key challenges to heavy oil development:
- the facilities can be field-located and effective at a scale as low as
10,000 to 15,000 barrels per day;
- the value of the upgraded heavy oil is substantially increased;
- the viscosity of the upgraded product is dramatically reduced,
allowing it to be transported by pipeline without the need for blend
oils; and
- significant amounts of by-product energy are produced, as an on-site
source for the production of the steam and/or power needed in heavy
oil recovery.
Ivanhoe Energy is an independent international oil and gas exploration and development company focused on pursuing long-term growth in its reserve base and production using key technologies, including its proprietary heavy oil upgrading process, state-of-the-art drilling and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques and the conversion of natural gas to liquids (GTL). Core operations are in the United States and China, with business development opportunities worldwide.
Ivanhoe Energy trades on the NASDAQ Capital Market with the ticker symbol IVAN and on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) with the symbol IE. |
