French multinational integrated oil and gas company Total achieved first oil from the Fort Hills oil sands project located in Alberta, Canada, 90 kilometers north of Fort McMurray, the company announced on Monday.
Production will ramp up over the next months to reach a plateau of 180,000 barrels per day, the company said.
The Fort Hills oil sands project is owned and operated by Canadian energy company Suncor with a 53.06 percent share, Total holds a 26.05 percent share and Canadian mining company Teck has a 20.89 percent stake.
“We are pleased to see Fort Hills achieving first oil after a challenging construction program of several years in a difficult climatic environment and we congratulate the operator Suncor for having brought to bear all of its expertise to carry out this project,” Arnaud Breuillac, the president of Exploration and Production at Total, was quoted as saying.
In addition to Fort Hills, Total holds a 50 percent interest in the Surmont project in Canada with a gross capacity of 150,000 barrels of oil per day.
Total's production in Canada was 59,000 barrels of oil per day in 2017, the company concluded.
By Ebru Sengul
Anadolu Agency
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