Imperial expects regulatory approval by the end of June for a 20% output boost at the Cold Lake oil sands facility, the Calgary-based company’s largest asset, said spokesman Pius Rolheiser.

The project will add 250 million barrels of reserves at the field, which has pumped in excess of 1 billion since opening in 1985, Rolheiser said in an interview with Bloomberg.

A sulfur-filtering plant will cut emissions, and new drilling techniques will reduce the number of gravel pads needed to hold pumpjacks, he said.

“This is going to produce in a more cost-efficient way and reduce our footprint on the surface,” Rolheiser said.

“Drilling advances made over the past several years mean we’ll only need half as many well pads.”

Irving, Texas-based Exxon, which owns 70% of Imperial, is increasing investment in Alberta’s oil sands to boost reserves and output amid shrinking opportunities in places such as South America.

Imperial and ExxonMobil are spending C$8 billion ($7.58 billion) on the Kearl project 500 kilometres (311 miles) north of Cold Lake.

Kearl is scheduled to begin production in late 2012.

Imperial received initial regulatory approval in 2004 for a C$1.3 billion expansion at Cold Lake.

A revised plan that includes the sulfur plant and a facility to make steam from waste heat was submitted in September.

Once approval is granted, the company will make a formal investment decision, followed by 2 to 3 years of construction, Rolheiser said.

The field has “several decades” more of production to come, he said.

Rolheiser declined to provide an updated cost estimate for the project.

Cold Lake, which is 290 kilometres north-east of Edmonton, accounts for 51% of Imperial’s output.

Imperial pumps steam one- and lets its soak into the heavy bitumen for as long as six weeks before pumping it to the surface.

Kearl will operate like a traditional oil-sands mine, where bitumen-soaked dirt and rocks are scooped from the ground and cooked in hot water under pressure to extract bitumen. Such mining techniques weren’t employed at Cold Lake because the oil field is too deep underground.

Kearl is expected to produce bitumen for at least 50 years and to peak at 340,000 barrels per day, Rolheiser said.

The oil sands hold an estimated 175 billion barrels of recoverable reserves, second only to Saudi Arabia, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

Published: 24 February 2010 21:56 GMT | Last updated: 24 February 2010 21:56 GMT