The Athabasca oil sands is the world's second largest hydrocarbon basin. So to be a world energy player, we believe it is key to be a responsible leader in the oil sands.
Our strategy is to responsibly and economically develop our significant oil sands resource in phases to deliver stable future growth.
Our integrated steam-assisted-gravity- drainage (SAGD) technology and upgrading process is unique. It produces a synthetic gas, which significantly reduces our need to purchase natural gas and provides us a substantial margin advantage over competing technologies.
With Phase 1 of Long Lake on stream, we have produced more than two million barrels of the highest-quality synthetic crude in North America. Yet a project of this size and complexity takes time to ramp up. In 2009, we completed a turnaround that successfully improved reliability and operability of the SAGD facilities.
In 2010, we are focused on consistently steaming the reservoir, ramping up bitumen production and maximizing upgrader capacity utilization. Given our significant land position, we can replicate Phase 1 many more times, with each phase generating low-risk, steady production and cash flow for 40 years. Phase 1 is designed to produce 60,000 bbls/d (39,000 bbls/d net to us) of premium synthetic crude.
We also have a 7.23% investment in the Syncrude oil sands mining operation.