Dover oil sands project receives Cabinet approval

Brion Energy Corp.’s Dover oil sands project was given approval by the Alberta cabinet on March 13 after the company and Fort McKay First Nation reached an out-of-court agreement.  The Dover oil sands project is a 250,000-barrel-a-day steam-driven bitumen project. Brion is 60-per-cent owned by PetroChina; Calgary-based Athabasca Oil Corp. has the rest. Brion still requires an approval from the province’s environment department, a process that normally takes two to four weeks following the cabinet decision. The project received conditional approval from the Alberta Energy Regulator last summer, but was held up when Fort McKay disputed the decision, and was granted leave to appeal in court. No details were released regarding the agreement struck between the oil company and the First Nation, although a 20-kilometre buffer zone, for which Fort McKay First Nation had been pressing, was not granted. That buffer zone, said Fort McKay officials, is a talk that needs to happen with the government.