With a line of sight to expanding pipeline capacity from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, producers plan to grow crude oil production. Today, we go through all the Alberta oil sands growth projects planned over the next several years.

Turn Me Loose – Alberta’s Oil Sands Producers Poised to Significantly Ramp Up Crude Oil Output

RBN Energy Blogcast

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** RBN Energy Blogcast

## Participants

- **Mike Dunn** (RBN Energy)

## Transcript

You're listening to the RBN Energy Blogcast. This is an audio version of RBN's Daily Energy Blog, which is a fun and insightful daily commentary on oil, gas, NGL, and refined product markets. Each morning we cover commodity fundamentals and industry changes to keep you informed of developing trends across the U.S. energy landscape.

Tuesday, June 16, 2026. Turn Me Loose, Alberta's Oil Sands Producers Poised to Significantly Ramp Up Crude Oil Output, published by Mike Dunn. With another 180,000 barrels per day of pipeline capacity out of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, WCSB, expected online by late next year, and potentially another 1.7 million barrels per day of capacity being proposed over the next several years, excluding a new pipeline to the west coast of Canada,

WCSB producers are looking to grow their crude oil production. With no shortage of resources to develop in the oil sands, in today's RBN blog, we look at all the Alberta oil sands growth projects currently proposed over the next several years. In part 1 of this series, we discuss the drivers behind WCSB crude oil production nearly doubling from 2010 to 2025, as well as its seasonal trends.

In part 2, we reviewed the major pipeline projects that expanded capacity to move barrels out of the WCSB up to this point, how the timing of those projects matched up with supply growth, and current export pipeline capacity. In part 3, we examined how WCSB crude oil price discounts are impacted by pipeline scarcity and production seasonality. In part 4, we looked at where WCSB crude oil goes, how it gets there, and how its end markets have evolved over time.

Finally, in part 5, we reviewed all the projects in the works to expand crude oil pipeline capacity out of the WCSB. First off, let's orient ourselves with the whereabouts of all the projects within Alberta's oil sands region. In figure 1 of the blog, we show all projects currently producing, as well as some proposed new project locations. We'll go through our review of oil sands operator growth plans in alphabetical order, starting with Athabasca Oil Corporation, AOC.

The company currently operates two producing steam-assisted gravity drainage, SAGD, oil sands bitumen projects in the Athabasca region of Alberta, Leesmer and Hangingstone. At Leesmer, an expansion is underway to take productive capacity from 28,000 barrels per day to 40,000 barrels per day by the end of 2027, with first production expected later this year. AOC also expects to sanction the development of the first phase at its Corner leases this year.

Corner has regulatory approval for 40,000 barrels per day of production and AOC currently envisions developing Corner in 15,000 barrels per day phases, and estimates approximately three years from sanction to first oil, which could occur around late 2029. AOC's disclosures note that remaining resources at ...

Turn Me Loose – Alberta’s Oil Sands Producers Poised to Significantly Ramp Up Crude Oil Output

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

Turn Me Loose – Alberta’s Oil Sands Producers Poised to Significantly Ramp Up Crude Oil Output

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.