for synthetic crude oil see synthetic crude . syncrude canada ltd. type joint venture industry oil and gas founded december 1964 headquarters fort mcmurray alberta products petroleum number of employees 5 600 2009 website www.syncrude.ca minesite at syncrude s mildred lake plant 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 . it is located just outside fort mcmurray in the athabasca oil sands and has a nameplate capacity of 350 000 barrels per day 56 000 m3 d of oil equivalent to about 13 % of canada s consumption . 1 it has approximately 5.1 billion barrels 810 000 000 m3 of proven and probable reserves 11.9 billion when including contingent and prospective resources situated on 8 leases over 3 contiguous sites . 2 including fully realized prospective reserves current production capacity could be sustained for well over 90 years . 3 the company is a joint venture between five partners . as a result syncrude is not traded directly but rather through the individual owners . as of june 2016 the partners by percentage suncor energy 53.74 % imperial oil 25 % sinopec 9.03 % nexen 7.23 % and mocal energy a subsidiary of nippon oil exploration 4 5 % . 5 because of nexen s subsequent takeover by cnooc over 16 % of the shares in syncrude are controlled by state owned enterprises soe . 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 . 6 contents 1 history 2 controversies 2.1 pollution 3 oil sands tailings pond water 3.1 greenpeace lawsuit 4 sponsorships 4.1 keyano college 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit syncrude was formed as a research consortium in 1964 . construction at the syncrude site began in 1973 and it officially opened in 1978 . 2 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 73.5 million barrels 11 690 000 m3 per year in 1996 to 81.4 million in 1999 . the total cost of this stage of expansion was 470 million . 7 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 million barrels 14 000 000 m3 per year by the end of 2001 . total cost for this stage was 1 billion . 7 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 100 000 barrels per day 16 000 m3 d to syncrude s production 36.5 million barrels 5 800 000 m3 a year assuming this is average . the cost was 8.4 billion a substantial cost overrun over the original estimate of 5.7 billion . 7 8 on april 12 2010 conocophillips agreed to sell its share to sinopec a chinese state owned oil company . the sale for 4.65 billion was completed on june 25 2010 . 9 10 a 183 m 600 ft smokestack is located at the facility which is the second tallest in western canada . in april 2016 suncor 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 . 11 the 2016 fort mcmurray wildfire forced a complete shutdown of syncrude s facilities . 12 controversies edit pollution edit 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 . 13 syncrude s mildred lake plant site is the largest greenhouse gas emitter in canada emitting 12 359 420 tonnes of co2 equivalent in 2012 . 14 oil sands tailings pond water edit main article syncrude tailings dam syncrude is a member of canada s oil sands innovation alliance cosia an alliance of oil sands 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 . 15 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 . 16 syncrude 17 also contributes to the industry funded joint oil sands monitoring program which was created in 2012 18 and managed by the federal and alberta governments . 19 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 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 . 20 in an article accepted for publication in environmental science and technology journal in january 2014 environment canada s richard frank and his team of scientists confirmed that using new technology they were able to fingerprint the mix of groundwater chemicals in the area proving that oil sands tailings pond water had leached into groundwater and the athabasca river . 21 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 . 19 greenpeace lawsuit edit in august 2008 syncrude canada filed a lawsuit against greenpeace 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 1600 migrating ducks died 22 after landing on a tailings pond at the site syncrude was fined 3 million . 23 sponsorships edit keyano college edit 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 . 24 see also edit canadian centre for energy information history of the petroleum industry in canada oil sands and heavy oil scotford upgrader suncor references edit syncrude project . canada oil sands trust . retrieved 2009 07 09 . a b canadian oil sands trust syncrude project . retrieved april 13 2010 . review of syncrude operations . canada oil sands trust pg 2 . retrieved 2009 09 16 . activities in canada . nippon oil exploration . retrieved 2009 02 17 . syncrude owners . syncrude canada ltd. 2010 . retrieved 2010 07 31 . business description . a b c overview of growth stages . syncrude . retrieved april 13 2010 . janet mowers april 2005 . gearing up . oilweek . retrieved april 13 2010 . china s sinopec takes 4.65 billion us stake in oilsands with conocophillips buy . vancouver sun . 13 april 2010 . retrieved 1 april 2012 . conocophillips sells syncrude stake to sinopec . press release . rigzone . 25 june 2010 . retrieved 25 june 2010 . suncor snags majority control of syncrude with 937m murphy oil deal . ctv news . http www.bloomberg.com news articles 2016 05 08 alberta s vicious wildfires spread to suncor oil sands site company profile . pollution watch . retrieved 2008 05 05 . http maps cartes.ec.gc.ca indicators indicateurs tableview.aspx id 1 & lang en tailings . cosia . majid a. ; boyko v.j. ; sparks b.d. ; ripmeester j.a. ; kodama h 1 january 1990 pdf ottawa ontario national research council of canada https web.anl.gov pcs acsfuel preprint % 20archive files 35 2 boston 04 90 0535.pdf missing or empty title help frequently asked questions . 2013 . retrieved 22 february 2014 . v . environment canada . 2013 . retrieved 22 february 2014 . a b federal study confirms oil sands tailings found in groundwater river . ctv news . 21 february 2014 . retrieved 22 february 2014 . wang xiaomeng ; robinson lisa ; wen qing ; kasperski kim l 22 may 2013 . determination of thermodynamic and transport parameters of naphthenic acids and organic process chemicals in oil sand tailings pond water . environmental science processes impacts . 15 7 1411 1423 . doi 10.1039 c3em00089c . oil sands study confirms tailings found in groundwater river federal study shows water from tailings ponds leaching into athabasca river cbc news 20 february 2014 retrieved 22 february 2014 http www.syncrude.ca users folder.asp folderid 7789 jeremy klaszus syncrude sues greenpeace for 120 000 fast forward weekly august 28 2008 syncrude invests 200 000 to bring award winning science in a crate program company also takes naming rights to future sports and wellness centre at keyano to region . 25 may 2005 . retrieved 22 february 2014 . external links edit syncrude canada limited canadian oil sands trust pollution watch canada retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title syncrude & oldid 743075726 categories oil companies of canadaathabasca oil sandscompanies based in albertafort mcmurrayenergy companies established in 1964non renewable resource companies established in 19641964 establishments in canadajoint venturesexxonmobil subsidiarieshidden categories pages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urls navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured 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