Believe in CLL:

Be careful of interpreting the press release. When you are excited about the 30k design capacity, which number are you looking at? Here is the first paragraph from the press release:

Algar has a design steam generation capacity of 30,000 bbl/d, which at its long-term target peak operating steam:oil ratio (SOR) of 3.0, is anticipated to facilitate production of 10,000 bbl/d of bitumen over a project life of more than 25 years. The project was designed to allow for expansion to 34,000 bbl/d of bitumen production in subsequent years.

You have to remember that the first 30k number is STEAM GENERATION CAPACITY. That's what they have now. That only gives them the capacity for 10k of bitumen production at the current time.

Algar as a whole is designed FOR EXPANSION to 34k of bitumen. However, this simply means that other potential bottlenecks in the plant were engineered to accommodate future larger production than the existing plant with minimal upgrading. Basically, it is my understanding that before Algar grows to 34k bitumen, it needs to tie into one (or possibly even two) more pod(s). The company still needs to apply for approval for more pods.

Now, someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that an application for expansion of Algar was already submitted well over a year ago, and is tentatively expected to be approved, we hope, within another year. THAT application would keep us on track for the timeline of starting construction of all required facilities to start production at a third pod in the next couple of years. That production would feed into Algar too. That construction would include the simple infrastructure to start working on pod number three, ie. the additional series of well-pads, etc. And then that production is fed into the Algar facility for processing.

It would be great if two posters who are more familiar with the process to contribute the following info:

1. A "layman's" explanation of what standalone facilities are needed for a new pod feeding into Algar plus an explanation of what existing Algar infrastructure can be shared by the next pod. Someone like 2Crude could probably explain this very easily and comprehensively.

2. Maybe someone else can dig up the latest maps/seismic showing the approximate physical locations of all pods that have been identified to date?