BlackrodA lot of investors seem to have a lack of understanding of heavy oil. Blackrod is an example. Right now Blackrod is shown as a contingent reserve due to the unpopularity of heavy oil and bitumen as feedstocks to refineries. What the environmentalists fail to mention is that as part of the coking process a lot of the carbon is removed as coke. The final product mainly gasolines and diesel etc. Are even cleaner than what is produced by normal crudes. Also heavy crudes yield a higher volume of products for the same amount of feedstock
Another development of interest is the use of solvents in the SAGD process in order to cut steam loads in half.
All in all , bitumen is increasingly a valuable commodity . IPCO has nearly 1 billion barrels of bitumen at Blackrod. Approvals are already in place for phase 1 at 20000 barrels per day and eventually up to 100000 barrels per day. With pipeline capacity becoming available and the current very favourable pricing, the future is looking very rosy !!