The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, June 17, edition that International Petroleum produced oil from the initial phase of its $855-million (U.S.) Blackrod site, Canada's first new Alberta oil sands project greenlit in more than a decade when it moved ahead in 2023. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that production started on May 31 and will ramp up to 30,000 barrels a day of oil by late 2027, one quarter earlier than originally planned, IPC said in a release. IPC could expand output from Blackrod to as much as 80,000 barrels a day in future phases. The project was delivered mostly on budget, costing roughly $5-million (U.S.) more than originally planned. Blackrod is the first so-called greenfield oil sands project to move forward since oil prices collapsed around 2014, prompting companies to focus on cutting costs and efficiency rather than growth. Major international oil companies such as Shell and BP sold oil sands assets to invest in other areas including shale. While oil sands production has grown, it's happened mostly through incremental expansions of existing sites. The new site starts production as new export pipelines are planned, requiring oil sands producers to significantly increase output.