Syncrude Totally Explained

Everything about Syncrude totally explained

Syncrude Canada Ltd. is the world's largest producer of synthetic crude oil from oil sands and the largest single source producer in Canada. It is located just outside Fort McMurray in the Athabasca Oil Sands, and supplies about 13% of Canada's oil requirements.
The company is a joint venture involving a number of companies, including Canadian Oil Sands Limited, Imperial Oil, Petro-Canada, Nexen, ConocoPhillips, Mocal Energy and Murphy Oil. As a result, the consortium isn't traded directly but can be traded under the individual partners: Canadian Oil Sands Trust, Petro Canada, Nexen, and so forth . The Canadian Oil Sands Trust, with the largest stake (and with Syncrude involvement as its only business), is publicly traded on the TSX under the symbol COS.UN.TO.
By 2015, Syncrude expects to extract of oil per year from the Athabasca Oil Sands.

History

Syncrude was formed as a research consortium in 1964. Construction at the Syncrude site didn't begin until 1973 and the site officially opened in 1978. In recent years Syncrude has undergone some multi-billion dollar expansion projects, including the construction of a new site 35 km north of the original site called Aurora starting in 1998 and the "Upgrader Expansion 1" project which has added 100 000 barrels per day processing capacity to the original plant, bringing the total to about . That should boost Syncrude's production capability from about to about per year by 2007 (actual production is subject to equipment failures and planned shutdowns). The UE-1 expansion finally started up in late 2006 after dealing with ammonia-related odour issues, about 2 years behind schedule and over triple the original budget. Cost overruns on the UE-1 project forced former CEO Eric Newell to retire, and Charles Ruigrok, formerly of part owner Imperial Oil, took over. The UE-1 project continued to experience cost overruns and schedule delays after the replacement of Newell, due in no small part to the tight labour market in Alberta and increases in costs of construction materials such as steel and concrete.

Controversies

Duck Deaths

In late April, 2008, about 500 ducks flew into the tailings pond at Syncrude's Aurora North Site mine. The birds were coated in oil and the vast majority died. Syncrude purchased full page ads in various Alberta newspapers apologizing for the incident, although Greenpeace called the apology hollow.

Pollution

Air releases of combined gases without volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by Syncrude Canada in 2005 were 129,741,321 (kg) in total, including Ammonia (4,302,361 kg), Sulphuric acid (1,129,425 kg), Xylene (501,461 kg), etc. The company was also ranked as having the seventh highest air releases of combined gases (without VOC) in Canada in 2005.. Syncrude's Mildred Lake Plant Site is the heaviest greenhouse gas emitter in Canada. Syncrude reduced CO2 emitted per barrel produced by 23% from 1990 to 2001, and plans for further reductions in the future, although increased production will prevent a decrease in absolute emissions.

Further Information

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