Approval for an oilsands project is being sought by Imperial Oil, and the projected is estimated to be valued at around $2 billion. The project will be located in northeastern Alberta on the lease area that the company currently has in the Cold Lake region. Imperial Oil has already filed the regulatory paperwork concerning the Cold Lake Expansion project that is required by the Alberta Energy Regulator. That is no guarantee of success though and the company could still be denied approval for the project. Lisa Schmidt, the company spokesperson for Imperial Oil, stated “This is a preliminary and very important step in the regulatory process. Overall, we take a long-term approach to resource development, and an ultimate investment decision will be based on a variety of factors including regulatory approvals, market conditions, and economic competitiveness.”

Imperial Oil is a company that is majority owned by ExxonMobil Corp., a U.S. Energy giant that is seeking to expand their oilsands project when most other companies in the natural resource industry are scaling back or even canceling new projects in the area due to declining oil prices in the last couple of years. If approved the new oilsands project would tap the resources in the Grand Rapids formation, estimated to be around 550 million barrels of possible resources. Craig Copeland, the mayor for Cold Lake, was excited about the prospect of approval for the new project. Copeland said “For us, it’s very exciting news for our community. We desperately need good news right now, so I’m really happy to hear that Imperial Oil’s going to move forward.”