Syncrude
Encyclopedia
Synthetic crude
Synthetic crude is the output from a bitumen/extra heavy oil upgrader facility used in connection with oil sand production. It may also refer to shale oil, an output from an oil shale pyrolysis. The properties of the synthetic crude depend on the processes used in the upgrading. Typically, it is...
oil from oil sands and the largest single source producer in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is located just outside Fort McMurray
Fort McMurray, Alberta
Fort McMurray is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It was previously incorporated as a city on September 1, 1980. It became an urban service area when it amalgamated with Improvement District No. 143 on April 1, 1995 to create the Municipality...
in the Athabasca Oil Sands
Athabasca Oil Sands
The Athabasca oil sands are large deposits of bitumen, or extremely heavy crude oil, located in northeastern Alberta, Canada - roughly centred on the boomtown of Fort McMurray...
, and has a nameplate capacity of 350000 oilbbl/d of oil, equivalent to about 13% of Canada's consumption. It has approximately 5.1 Goilbbl of proven and probable reserves (11.9 billion when including contingent and prospective resources) situated on 8 leases over 3 contiguous sites. By 2020, Syncrude expects to extract the equivalent to 525000 oilbbl/d. Including fully realized prospective reserves, said production level could be sustained for well over the next 60 years.
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
Imperial Oil
Imperial Oil Limited is Canada's largest petroleum company. The company is engaged in the exploration, production and sale of crude oil and natural gas. It is controlled by US based ExxonMobil, which owns 69.6% of its stock...
(25%), Suncor Energy
Suncor Energy
Suncor Energy Inc. is a Canadian integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in production of synthetic crude from oil sands...
(12%), Sinopec
Sinopec
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation Limited , or Sinopec Limited , is a majority owned subsidiary of state owned company Sinopec Group. Sinopec Limited is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai and New York ....
(9.03%), Nexen
Nexen
Nexen Inc. is an energy company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.-History:Nexen started in 1969 under the name "Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd.", aka CanOxy, and was 80% owned by Occidental Petroleum, a Los Angeles-based oil company...
(7.23%), Mocal Energy (a subsidiary of Nippon Oil Exploration
Nippon Oil
The , or NOC or Shin-Nisseki is a Japanese petroleum company. Its businesses include the exploration, importation, and refining of crude oil; the manufacture and sale of petroleum products, including fuels and lubricants; and other energy-related activities.Its products are sold under the brand...
) (5%), and Murphy Oil
Murphy Oil
Murphy Oil Corporation is an international oil and gas company, founded in 1944 as C.H. Murphy & Co by Charle H Murphy Sr., that conducts business through various operating subsidiaries. Murphy produces oil and/or natural gas in the United States, Canada, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Republic...
(5%).
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.
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. 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 Moilbbl per year in 1996 to 81.4 million in 1999. The total cost of this stage of expansion was $470 million.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 Moilbbl per year by the end of 2001. Total cost for this stage was $1 billion.
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 100000 oilbbl/d to Syncrude's production (36.5 Moilbbl a year assuming this is average). The cost was $8.4 billion, a cost overrun over the original estimate of $5.7 billion.
On April 12, 2010, ConocoPhillips agreed to sell its share to Sinopec
Sinopec
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation Limited , or Sinopec Limited , is a majority owned subsidiary of state owned company Sinopec Group. Sinopec Limited is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai and New York ....
, a Chinese state owned oil company. The sale, for $4.65 billion, was completed on June 25, 2010.
Pollution
Air releases of combined gases without volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by Syncrude Canada in 2005 were 129,741,321 (kg) in total, including AmmoniaAmmonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
(4,302,361 kg), Sulphuric acid (1,129,425 kg), Xylene
Xylene
Xylene encompasses three isomers of dimethylbenzene. The isomers are distinguished by the designations ortho- , meta- , and para- , which specify to which carbon atoms the two methyl groups are attached...
(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 third largest greenhouse gas emitter in Canada. Syncrude reduced CO2 emitted per barrel produced by 23% from 1990 to 2001.
Greenpeace lawsuit
In August 2008, Syncrude Canada filed a lawsuit against GreenpeaceGreenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
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 after they landed on a toxic tailings pond at the site.
Keyano College
In 2004 Syncrude announced an $800,000 multi-year donation, $500,000 of which was dedicated to the new community Syncrude Sport and Wellness Centre and the balance to Keyano Theatre’s Arts Alive Series and student scholarships. In 2005 Syncrude took the naming rights to the Syncrude Sports and Wellness Centre at Keyano CollegeKeyano College
Keyano College is a fully accredited comprehensive community college headquartered in Fort McMurray, in Wood Buffalo region Alberta, Canada which serves post-secondary courses and programs to communities throughout Northern Alberta through both in-classroom and distance education...
See also
- Canadian Centre for Energy InformationCanadian Centre for Energy InformationThe Canadian Centre for Energy Information is a non-profit organization created in 2002 to meet an urgent need for information on all aspects of the Canadian energy system from oil, natural gas, coal, thermal, and hydroelectric power through to nuclear, solar, wind, and other sources of energy...
- History of the petroleum industry in Canada (oil sands and heavy oil)History of the petroleum industry in Canada (oil sands and heavy oil)Canada's oil sands and heavy oil resources are among the world's great petroleum deposits. They include the vast oil sands of northern Alberta, and the heavy oil reservoirs that surround the small city of Lloydminster, which sits on the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan...
- Scotford UpgraderScotford UpgraderThe Shell Scotford Upgrader is an oilsand upgrader, a facility which processes crude bitumen from oil sands into a wide range of synthetic crude oils. The upgrader is owned by Athabasca Oil Sands Project , a joint venture of Shell Canada Energy , Marathon Oil Sands L.P. and Chevron Canada Limited...
- Suncor