Syncrude Canada Ltd. is one of the world's largest producers of synthetic crude oil from oil sands and the largest single source producer in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It is located just outside

Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significa ...

in the

Athabasca Oil Sands The Athabasca oil sands, also known as the Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of oil sands rich in bitumen, a heavy and viscous form of petroleum, in northeastern Alberta, Canada. These reserves are one of the largest sources of unconventi ...

, and has a

nameplate capacity Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, maximum effect or gross capacity, Including fully realized prospective reserves, current production capacity could be sustained for well over 90 years. As of 2021, Syncrude's Mildred Lake site remains the largest single

greenhouse gas Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the gases in the atmosphere that raise the surface temperature of planets such as the Earth. Unlike other gases, greenhouse gases absorb the radiations that a planet emits, resulting in the greenhouse effect. T ...

emitter in Canada.

History

Syncrude was formed as a research consortium in 1964 by Ryan Sheppard. Construction at the Syncrude site began in 1973, and it officially opened in 1978. Starting in 1996, Syncrude has been expanding its operations. Between 1996 and 1999, the original mine was expanded and the plant was "debottlenecked", increasing production from 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 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 to Syncrude's production ( a year assuming this is average). The cost was $8.4 billion, a substantial

cost overrun A cost overrun, also known as a cost increase or budget overrun, involves unexpected incurred costs. When these costs are in excess of budgeted amounts due to a value engineering underestimation of the actual cost during budgeting, they are known ...

over the original estimate of $5.7 billion. On April 12, 2010, ConocoPhillips agreed to sell its share to

Sinopec China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Group, is a Chinese oil and gas enterprise based in Chaoyang District, Beijing. The SASAC administers China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation for the benefit of State Council of the ...

, a Chinese state-owned oil company. The sale, for $4.65 billion, was completed on June 25, 2010. The second tallest smokestack in western Canada, 183 m (600 ft) in height, is located at its facility. In April 2016,

Suncor Suncor Energy Inc. () is a Canadian integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in production of synthetic crude from oil sands. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Suncor Energy was ranked as the 48th-largest public compan ...

announced that they had reached a $937-million deal to acquire Murphy Oil Corp.'s five per cent stake in the Syncrude project north of Fort McMurray, Alta. This follows the hostile takeover of Canadian Oil Sands less than a year ago, and will increase its interest in Syncrude from just under 49 per cent to nearly 54 per cent, making it the majority shareholder of the project. The 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire forced a complete shutdown of Syncrude's facilities.

Ownership

The company is a joint venture by four partners (

Suncor Energy Suncor Energy Inc. () is a Canada, Canadian integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in production of synthetic crude from oil sands. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Suncor Energy was ranked as the 48th-largest public ...

(58.74%), Imperial Oil (25%),

(9.03%) and CNOOC (7.23%)). As a result, Syncrude is not traded directly, but rather through the individual owners. 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.

Controversies

Pollution

Air releases of combined gases without

volatile organic compounds Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapor pressure at room temperature. They are common and exist in a variety of settings and products, not limited to house mold, upholstered furniture, arts and crafts sup ...

(VOCs) by Syncrude Canada in 2005 were 129,741,321 (kg) in total, including

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...

(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 largest greenhouse gas emitter in Canada emitting 12,359,420 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2012. It remains Canada's largest greenhouse-gas emitter in 2021. Research published in 2019 indicated that the intensity of CO₂ emissions at the Syncrude Mildred Lake site may be 123% larger than calculations from publicly reported data would indicate.

Oil sands tailings pond water

Syncrude is a member of Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA), an alliance of

oil sands Oil sands are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. They are either loose sands, or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with bitumen (a dense and extremely viscous ...

producers formed in 2012, who share research on Environmental Priority Areas (EPAs) such as tailing pond water and greenhouse gases. One of the major challenges facing COSIA is the treatment of oil sands tailings pond water. "Tailings are the sand, silt, clay and water found naturally in oil sands that remain following the mining and bitumen extraction process." The problem stems from the hot water process used by Suncor and Syncrude to extract bitumen from the Athabasca Oil Sands which produce large quantities of tailings pond sludge which remains stable for decades. By 1990 it was considered to be the "imminent environmental constraint to future use of the hot water process." Syncrude also contributes to the industry-funded Joint Oil sands Monitoring Program which was created in 2012 and managed by the federal and Alberta governments. According to a 2013 article published in ''Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts'', the tailings ponds contain toxic chemicals such as " naphthenic acids (NAs) and process chemicals (e.g., alkyl sulphates,

quaternary ammonium compounds In organic chemistry, quaternary ammonium cations, also known as quats, are positively-charged polyatomic ions of the structure , where R is an alkyl group, an aryl group or organyl group. Unlike the ammonium ion () and the primary, secondary, o ...

, and alkylphenol ethoxylates)." The study used the computer program (CXTFIT) to evaluate the transport behaviour of these contaminants through the foundation as well as underground. The chemicals seep "through the foundation of the tailings pond to the subsurface, potentially affecting the quality of

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

." In an article accepted for publication in ''Environmental Science and Technology'' journal in January 2014,

Environment Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; )Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment (). is the Ministry (government department), department ...

's Richard Frank and his team of scientists confirmed that, using new technology, they were able to "

fingerprint A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfa ...

the mix of groundwater chemicals in the area" proving that oil sands tailings pond water had leached into groundwater and the Athabasca River. The study undertaken by a new federal-provincial oil sands monitoring program used new $1.6-million technology acquired in 2010. The equipment is able to "fingerprint chemicals and trace them back to where they came from."

Greenpeace lawsuit

In August 2008, Syncrude Canada filed a lawsuit against

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

Canada for $120,000, plus costs, after 11 Greenpeace activists went on to the company's Aurora North oil sands site July 24, 2008, to unfurl anti-oil sands 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 chose the Syncrude site for the protest because in April 2008, 1,600 migrating ducks died after landing on a tailings pond at the site (Syncrude was fined $3 million).

Sponsorships

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 invested another $200,000 and took the naming rights to the Syncrude Sports and Wellness Centre at Keyano College.

References

External links

*
Canadian Oil Sands Trust

Pollution Watch Canada
{{Authority control Oil companies of Canada Athabasca oil sands Companies based in Alberta Fort McMurray Energy companies established in 1964 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1964 Joint ventures Imperial Oil ExxonMobil subsidiaries Canadian companies established in 1964