Syncrude

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This article is about Syncrude Canada Ltd.. For synthetic crude oil, see synthetic crude.
Syncrude Canada Ltd.
Type Joint Venture
Industry Oil and Gas
Founded December 1964
Headquarters Canada Fort McMurray, Alberta
Products Petroleum
Employees 5,600 (2009)
Website http://www.Syncrude.ca
File:Syncrude mildred lake plant.jpg
Minesite at Syncrude's Mildred Lake plant

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 has a nameplate capacity of 350,000 barrels per day (56,000 m3/d) of oil, equivalent to about 13% of Canada's consumption.[1] It has approximately 5.1 billion barrels of proven and probable reserves (11.9 billion when including contingent and prospective resources) situated on 8 leases over 3 contiguous sites.[2] By 2020, Syncrude expects to extract the equivalent to 525,000 barrels per day (83,500 m3/d).[3] Including fully realized prospective reserves, said production level could be sustained for well over the next 60 years.[4]

The company is a joint venture between seven partners. As a result, Syncrude is not traded directly, but rather through the individual owners. As of August 2010, the partners (by percentage): Canadian Oil Sands Limited (36.74%), Imperial Oil (25%), Suncor Energy (12%), Sinopec (9.03%), Nexen (7.23%), Mocal Energy (a subsidiary of Nippon Oil Exploration)[5] (5%), and Murphy Oil (5%).[6]

The ownership board must approve all annual operating budgets and proposed capital spending projects, and are required to provide the funding for said activities based on their ownership share.[7]

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.[2] Starting in 1996, Syncrude expanded its operations. Between 1996 and 1999, the original mine was expanded and the plant was "debottlenecked", increasing production from 73.5 million barrels per year in 1996 to 81.4 million in 1999. The total cost of this stage of expansion was $470 million.[8] Between 1998 and 2001 a new mine, Aurora, was opened 35 km north of the original site and further debottlenecking was undertaken. Production started in Aurora in July 2001. Syncrude's production increased to 90 million barrels per year by the end of 2001. Total cost for this stage was $1 billion.[8] A third stage of expansion was undertaken between 2001 and 2006, in which a second train at the Aurora line came online and the Mildred Lake upgrader was expanded. The expansion added 100,000 barrels per day to Syncrude's production (36.5 million barrels a year assuming this is average). The cost was $8.4 billion, a cost overrun over the original estimate of $5.7 billion.[8][9]

On April 12, 2010, ConocoPhillips agreed to sell its share to Sinopec, a Chinese state owned oil company. The sale, for $4.65 billion, was completed on June 25, 2010.[10][11]

Controversies

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.[12] Syncrude's Mildred Lake Plant Site is the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in Canada.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]

Greenpeace lawsuit

In August 2008, Syncrude Canada filed a lawsuit against Greenpeace Canada for $120,000, plus costs, after 11 Greenpeace activists went onto the company's Aurora North oil sands site July 24, 2008, to unfurl anti-oilsands banners and unsuccessfully block a tailings pipe. Company spokesperson Mark Kruger said the company filed the lawsuit — which also names the activists individually — largely because of safety concerns as the activists were "unfamiliar with an industrial operation, and unfamiliar with some of the safety hazards that can be present... We just want to ensure that, in the future, nobody is putting themselves at unnecessary risk.”

Greenpeace tar sands campaigner Mike Hudema said Greenpeace wished Syncrude "was as diligent in cleaning up the environment as they are in persecuting the individuals that stand up for it."

Greenpeace chose the Syncrude site for the protest because in April 2008, 1600 ducks died [13] after they landed on a toxic tailings pond at the site.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Syncrude Project". Canada Oil Sands Trust. http://www.cos-trust.com/Theme/COS/files/COS_2008_eAnnnual/the_syncrude_project.html. Retrieved 2009-07-09.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Canadian Oil Sands Trust: Syncrude Project". http://www.cos-trust.com/operations/SyncrudeProject/default.aspx. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Canadian Oil Sands Provides Update of Syncrude Expansion Plans". Fox Business. 2010. http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/energy/canadian-oil-sands-provides-update-syncrude-expansion-plans/. Retrieved 2010-03-02.[dead link]
  4. ↑ "Review of Syncrude Operations". Canada Oil Sands Trust - pg 2. http://www.cos-trust.com/Theme/COS/files/COS_2008_eAnnnual/business_description.html. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  5. ↑ "Activities in Canada". Nippon Oil Exploration. http://www.noex.co.jp/english/activity/others/canada/index.html. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
  6. ↑ "Syncrude Owners". Syncrude Canada Ltd.. 2010. http://www.syncrude.ca/users/folder.asp?FolderID=7101. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
  7. ↑ "Business Description". http://www.cos-trust.com/Theme/COS/files/COS_2008_eAnnnual/business_description.html.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Overview of Growth Stages". Syncrude. http://www.syncrude.ca/users/folder.asp?FolderID=5801#01. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  9. ↑ Janet Mowers (April 2005). "Gearing up". Oilweek. https://www.oilweek.com/articles.asp?ID=172. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  10. ↑ "China's Sinopec takes $4.65-billion US stake in oilsands with ConocoPhillips buy". http://www.vancouversun.com/business/China+Sinopec+takes+billion+stake+oilsands+with+ConocoPhillips/2877688/story.html. Retrieved April 13, 2010.[dead link]
  11. ↑ "ConocoPhillips Sells Syncrude Stake to Sinopec". Press Release. RigZone. 25 June 2010. http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?hpf=1&a_id=95183. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
  12. ↑ "Company Profile". Pollution Watch. http://www.pollutionwatch.org/company.do?chemGroup=all&year=2005&pollutionType=RELE_AIR_COMBINED&src=NPRI&comp=SYNCRUDE+CANADA. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  13. ↑ http://www.syncrude.ca/users/folder.asp?FolderID=7789
  14. ↑ Jeremy Klaszus, "Syncrude sues greenpeace for $120,000", Fast Forward Weekly, August 28, 2008

External links

fr:Syncrude Canada pl:Syncrude


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