Eagle Spirit Energy: Eagle Spirit Corridor to be Greenest Energy Project on the Planet

CALGARY, June 26, 2018 /CNW/ - The First Nations-led Eagle Spirit Energy (ESE) Corridor project—between Fort McMurray, Alberta and Grassy Point, BC—continues to make exciting advances. Recently a ground-breaking memorandum of agreement to build ESE's first crude oil pipeline was signed with Canada's Four Craft Unions who represent over 330,000 members. The ESE Chiefs Council which represents the 35 Indigenous communities along the corridor, believes this project is a leading example of achieving reconciliation through economic empowerment. It also is a historic nation-building milestone given that it will be the first indigenous-led major infrastructure project in Canadian history. The Eagle Spirit Corridor will provide the environmentally safest, and profitable scenario for developing and marketing land-locked energy resources. 

Chairman and President of ESE Calvin Helin commented that, "The Chiefs Council provided strict guidelines to develop the greenest possible corridor with the highest level of protection to traditional territories. Firstly, ESE will utilize green hydro energy for all power requirements in the corridor. Secondly, ESE has developed the most robust spill prevention model in the world—one that, exceeds the current minimal standards of the federal Oceans Protection Plan. Lastly, we will seek best-in-class technologies such as that of RII to produce Canadian oil with the lowest GHG footprint on the planet." 

In addition to having assembled a best-in-class business and technical team, ESE has secured an offtake commitment from a major national oil company for two million bpd and substantial supply commitments from producers. In the first phase, partially-upgraded bitumen that floats on water (which meets the ESE Chiefs Council decision to avoid shipping dilbit) will be transported and provides for a simple low-cost method of sequestering CO₂ at source. This has the advantage  that only one pipeline is required but delivers a larger volume (60% more pipeline capacity) of a readily shippable and highly marketable product for which Brent Crude pricing can be received.

While Canadian oil has been characterized by environmental groups as so called "dirty oil," the ESE Chiefs Council has focussed on developing the greenest products to ship. ESE has partnered with R.I.I North America (RII) to transport crude oil with the lowest carbon footprint.

The RII process is a super-efficient (low energy and low cost) enhanced oil recovery process that can extract heavy oil or bitumen eliminating 90% of the carbon emissions compared to conventional upstream extraction methods.  In field tests RII's STRIP process has produced partially upgraded oil with a 5-10° API.  President and CEO of RII, Fred Schneider, emphasizes that, "Working with ESE we can produce oil with a GHG footprint equivalent to conventional West Texas Intermediate [which has the lowest CO₂ footprint of all crudes]."  This equates to ~137,000 tons of CO₂ reduction per 1MM barrels oil produced in comparison to a conventional oil sands production—if 2MM bpd were shipped this amounts to over 100MM tons eliminated per year. With ESE access to tide water, this oil will command near Brent Crude pricing.

SOURCE Eagle Spirit Energy

Media contacts: Eagle Spirit Energy: James Kennedy, [phone]; RII North America: Fred Schneider, [phone]; More About R.I.I. North America Inc. ("RII") http://www.riina.ca/