For Immediate Release: December 1, 2022 - Tuesday’s record-strong earthquake near Peace River, Alberta, occurred directly under a large, heavy oil In-Situ project operated by Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL). The 5.8 magnitude earthquake was preceded by two 5.2 magnitude earthquakes and many aftershocks, all directly within the large CNRL Carmon Creek In-Situ oil field. The project was initiated by Shell Canada over ten years ago and sold to CNRL in 2017.

The underground activities of the Carson Creek large heavy oil project strongly suggest a direct industry cause of these earthquakes. A thorough independent/government geological and seismological investigation is needed to determine the facts.

Seismic activity is known to occur due to this type of In-Situ project. Industry should track seismic events related to the massive amounts of hot water injected 550 meters deep into the 30-metre bitumen layer. Injected water can unpredictably follow sub-injection fractures. Page 29 of the Shell 2016 Carson Creek Progress report discusses seismic risk associated with this In-Situ project, while seismic monitoring is not mentioned in the CNRL 2017 Directive 54 Annual Performance Presentation.

Treated tailings from Alberta’s tar sands operations may be flowing into NWT waters as early as 2025. Tailings are a toxic, liquid by-product of bitumen extraction and upgrading. This industrial waste is stored in man-made lakes that have grown to an unfathomable size of 1.1 trillion litres.