Syncrude

Infobox_Company
company_name = Syncrude Canada Ltd.
company_
company_type = Joint Venture
foundation = December 1964
location = flagicon|Canada Fort McMurray, Alberta
key_people = | industry = Oil and Gas
products = Petroleum
revenue = approx. $4.4B (2005)
num_employees =
homepage = http://www.Syncrude.ca

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 is not 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 convert|185|Moilbbl|m3 - convert|200|Moilbbl|m3 of oil per year from the Athabasca Oil Sands. [cite web
url=http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/syncrude/
title=Syncrude 21 Expansion Project, Alberta, Canada
publisher=hydrocarbons-technology.com
date=2007
language=English
accessdate=2008-07-08]

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 convert|350000|oilbbl/d|m3/d. That should boost Syncrude's production capability from about convert|90|Moilbbl|m3 to about convert|125|Moilbbl|m3 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

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. [cite web|url=http://www.pollutionwatch.org/company.do?chemGroup=all&year=2005&pollutionType=RELE_AIR_COMBINED&src=NPRI&comp=SYNCRUDE+CANADA
title=Company Profile|publisher=Pollution Watch|accessdate=2008-05-05|last=|first=] . 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.

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, 500 ducks died after they landed on a toxic tailings pond at the site. [Jeremy Klaszus, [http://www.ffwdweekly.com/article/news-views/news/syncrude-sues-greenpeace-for-120000-2437/ "Syncrude sues greenpeace for $120,000"] , "Fast Forward Weekly", August 28, 2008]

References

ee also

* Canadian Centre for Energy Information
* History of the petroleum industry in Canada (oil sands and heavy oil)
* Scotford Upgrader
* Suncor

External links

* [http://www.Syncrude.ca Syncrude Canada Limited]
* [http://www.cos-trust.com Canadian Oil Sands Trust]
* [http://www.pollutionwatch.org/company.do?chemGroup=all&year=2005&pollutionType=RELE_AIR_COMBINED&src=NPRI&comp=SYNCRUDE+CANADA Pollution Watch Canada]