Today at approximately 3:00 pm, the 8-1 CO (carbon monoxide) Boiler at the Mildred Lake site of Syncrude Canada Ltd. was taken off line for planned repairs
(Fort McMurray, Alberta) Today at approximately 3:00 pm, the 8-1 CO (carbon monoxide) Boiler at the Mildred Lake site of Syncrude Canada Ltd. was taken off line for planned repairs. It is anticipated that the unit will be operating again by Monday, October 11th.
Alberta Environment issued an Environmental Protection Order on September 28th to allow Syncrude to do a planned outage to conduct repairs to the Boiler to prevent a possible emergency situation in future. As required by the Order, Syncrude submitted a detailed plan and schedule for the repairs that minimizes potential adverse effects to the environment. Key regional stakeholders were notified prior to the commencement of the 8-1 CO Boiler maintenance work.
To allow the necessary repairs to be completed safely, gas from Coker 8-1 is being diverted from the Boiler so that it goes to atmosphere through the Diverter Stack. Syncrude’s Upgrading Operations have reduced coker feed rates and taken other measures to minimize the Diverter Stack emissions during the maintenance shutdown. This reduction is having minimal impact on crude oil shipments.
As the repairs are being done, Alberta Environment officials will be in the area with its Mobile Air Monitoring Lab to monitor air quality. Syncrude will also be conducting increased air quality monitoring throughout the shutdown. Off-site air monitoring will continue via the Wood Buffalo Environmental Association’s air monitoring network that includes stations in close proximity to the Syncrude site, as well as ones in Fort McMurray and Fort McKay.
I want to re-enforce that the diverter stack usage is normal during on-line repairs to the 8-1 CO Boiler. The area is being regularly monitored to ensure that the stack plume does not affect any workers in the base plant area or in the community.
Jim carter, syncrude president & coo
During July, both of the company’s CO Boilers had to be shut down for emergency repairs. Detailed analysis following these events showed additional work was necessary to allow the 8-1 CO Boiler to operate reliably until a complete refurbishment at its next scheduled maintenance turnaround.
The Syncrude Project is a joint venture operated by Syncrude Canada Ltd. and owned by Canadian Oil Sands Limited, ConocoPhillips Oilsands Partnership II, Imperial Oil Resources, Mocal Energy Limited, Murphy Oil Company Ltd., Nexen Inc., and Petro-Canada Oil and Gas.
Trading Symbols for Public Syncrude Joint Venture Owners
| Canadian Oil Sands Trust (via Canadian Oil Sands Limited and Canadian Oil Sands Limited Partnership) | COS.UN-TSX |
| ConocoPhillips Oilsands Partnership II (wholly owned by ConocoPhillips) | COP-NYSE |
| Imperial Oil Resources | IMO-TSX |
| Murphy Oil Company Ltd. | MUR-NYSE |
| Nexen Inc. | NXY-TSX/NYSE |
| Petro-Canada | PCA-TSX/PCZ-NYSE |
