CALGARY — Alberta’s energy regulator has approved Imperial Oil Ltd.’s plan to deal with waste from its Kearl oilsands mine, but with some conditions attached.
Last year, the Energy Resources Conservation Board ordered oilsands miners to clean up their tailings ponds — enormous lakes of water, sand, clay and bitumen left behind from the oilsands extraction process.
Imperial (TSX:IMO) has said it would not be able to meet the ERCB targets for the first six years of operations at the Kearl project because it needs time to work on new technology.
The ERCB ordered Imperial to submit a new plan by January 2012 outlining how it can speed up tailings reduction. It must also go above and beyond the ERCB requirements after 2018.
Kearl is the fourth such plan to be approved, after Suncor Energy Ltd. (TSX:SU), Syncrude Canada Ltd. and the Fort Hills partnership. The ERCB is still evaluating a submissions from Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (TSX:CNQ), and two more from Shell Canada Ltd. (NYSE:RDS).