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The project is currently on track to reach a final investment decision within six months and is expected to be financed through a combination of debt and equity, said Columba Yeung, Value Creation chair and CEO.

Yeung said the privately held company has already spent $700 million on the facility, which would be the first fully commercial-scale partial upgrader in the province.

Value Creation’s facility would process bitumen into medium-grade oil that can be processed at most North American refineries.

The facility would also eliminate the need for oilsands companies to use expensive blending agents like diluent to lighten their crude before shipping it on pipelines.

“We are fully committed to realize our vision in totality,” Yeung said, adding the company intends to build additional 77,500-bpd phases that would eventually expand the size of the facility to over 500,000 bpd in total.

Value Creation may partner with “major bitumen producers” to finance the facility and future projects, Yeung said.

The company is looking at debt financing, financing based on supply contracts and eventually some equity financing to develop the complex.

“There is a lot of promising technologies and every producer seems to have their technology,” said Kevin Birn, vice-president of North American crude oil markets at IHS Markit.

Companies are currently chasing technologies with the lowest capital cost method to process oil and eliminate costs associated with blending agents. Diluted bitumen, or dilbit, is about 70 per cent bitumen and 30 per cent diluent, which is imported at a high price from the U.S.

