Syncrude is a leader in Canada’s oil sands industry with a productive capacity equivalent to over 15% of the nation’s crude oil requirements. The Syncrude project is a joint venture undertaking among 7 participants.
Syncrude ownership: Canadian Oil Sands Limited (36.74%); Conoco-Phillips Oil Sand Partnership II (9.03%); Imperial Oil Resources (25%); Mocal Energy Limited (5%); Murphy Oil Company Ltd. (5%); Nexen Oil Sands Partnership (7.23%); and Petro-Canada Oil and Gas (Suncor) (12%).
Operator: Syncrude Canada Ltd. operates and administers the Syncrude Project on behalf of its owners. A Management Services Agreement with Imperial Oil Resources (25% Syncrude owner) enables Syncrude to access the expertise and global best practices of Imperial and its majority owner, ExxonMobil, in such areas as: maintenance and reliability, energy management, procurement and safety, health and environmental performance.
Governance: The Syncrude Management Committee governs the Syncrude Joint Venture and each Participant nominates a representative to the committee, which is charged with setting the strategic direction for and making decisions regarding the operation of the Syncrude Joint Venture. Canadian Oil Sands’ President and Chief Executive Officer is the Chair of the Syncrude Management Committee. He is also Chair of the Board of Directors of Syncrude Canada Ltd. and chairs the CEO Committee of the Board of Syncrude Canada Ltd.. Canadian Oil Sands’ Chief Financial Officer is the Chair of the Audit and Business Controls sub-committee of the Syncrude Management Committee.
Location: Syncrude’s mining operations and upgrading facility are located 40 km north of Fort McMurray in northeast Alberta.
Current productive capacity: Syncrude’s facilities have the design capability to produce approximately 375,000 barrels per day when operating at full capacity under optimal conditions and with no downtime for maintenance or turnarounds (referred to as “barrels per stream day”). However, under normal operating conditions, scheduled downtime is required for maintenance and turnaround activities and unscheduled downtime will occur as a result of mechanical problems, unanticipated repairs and other slowdowns. When allowances for such downtime are included, the daily productive capacity of Syncrude’s facilities is approximately 350,000 barrels per day on average (referred to as “barrels per calendar day”).
Resource: Syncrude has proved plus probable reserves of 4.9 billion barrels of synthetic crude oil . Best estimates of contingent resources is 5.4 billion barrels and 2.2 billion barrels for prospective resources (based on an independent evaluation by GLJ Petroleum Consultants Ltd. as of December 31, 2008; see Reserves and Resources). All of Syncrude’s high-quality resource can be accessed through surface mining.
Product: Syncrude currently produces a single, high-quality light synthetic crude oil. The blend has no residual bottoms and has low sulphur content. Historically, the price received for the product approximates West Texas Intermediate (WTI). The final product is sent by pipeline to three Edmonton area refineries and to pipeline terminals which ship it to refineries in Canada and the United States. Each Syncrude Participant receives its share of production in kind and is responsible for the subsequent marketing (see Marketing).
Operations: The Syncrude operation is comprised of four major technology areas: Mining, Extraction, Upgrading and Utilities. The process involves surface mining of oil sand, extracting the raw oil known as bitumen from the sand using water-based processes, and upgrading that bitumen into sweet light crude oil by fluid coking, hydroprocessing, hydrotreating and reblending (see Production Process).
Syncrude invests more than $40 million annually in science and technology, and is among the top 50 companies in Canada for research and development investment. Syncrude holds 21 active Canadian and U.S. patents.
Business objectives: Improve the operational reliability and utilization of all operations, reduce unit operating costs, increase bitumen and upgrading productive capacity, improve environmental and energy efficiencies, and capture expansion-related economies of scale.
History: Syncrude was incorporated in December 1964. Site preparations at Mildred Lake commenced in December 1973 and production began in July 1978. Since 1978, Syncrude has produced about 2 billion barrels of synthetic crude oil.
Economic contributions: Syncrude has made payments of about $10 billion in government royalties and taxes since start-up in 1978. Syncrude employs about 5,500 people and is one of the largest employers of Aboriginal people in Canada.
Industry: Canada’s oil sands are estimated to contain 173 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, the second largest reserve in the world. Oil sands are a naturally occurring mixture of thick, heavy oil, water and sand. The resource is recovered by two main methods: mining or in-situ, depending on the depth of the reserves.
Canada’s oil sands offer a long-life, secure and growing source of crude oil to meet increasing global demand for energy. As operations and production expand from Canada’s oil sands, the industry must meet demands for responsible environmental management and social stewardship.
For more information on the oil sands industry, please see:
The producers and developers of Canada's oil sands have launched a website, as part of their efforts to listen and respond more effectively to concerns about the environmental and social impacts of developing Canada's oil sands. Please join the conversation at:
http://www.canadasoilsands.ca/en/
Alberta Chamber of Resources:
www.acr-alberta.com
Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers:
www.capp.ca
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility:
www.cbsr.ca
Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business:
www.ccab.com
Canadian Oil Sands Network for Research and Development:
www.conrad.ab.ca
Mining Association of Canada:
www.mining.ca
Oil Sands Developers Group:
www.oilsands.ca