SYNCRUDE

Syncrude Canada Ltd. is the world's largest producer 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 supplies about 13% of Canada's oil requirements.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. In recent years Syncrude has undergone some multi-billion dollar expansion projects, including the construction of a new site 35 km north of the original site called Aurora starting in 1998 and the "Upgrader Expansion 1" project which has added 100 000 barrels per day processing capacity to the original plant, bringing the total to about 350 000 barrels per day. That should boost Syncrude's production capability from about 90 million barrels per year to about 125 million barrels per year by 2007 (actual production is subject to equipment failures and planned shutdowns). The UE-1 expansion finally started up in late 2006 after dealing with ammonia-related odour issues, about 2 years behind schedule and over triple the original budget.  Cost overruns on the UE-1 project forced former CEO Eric Newell to retire, and part-owner Imperial Oil parachuted in one of its own, Charles Ruigrok, to take over. The UE-1 project continued to experience cost overruns and schedule delays after the replacement of Newell, due in no small part to the tight labour market in Alberta and increases in costs of construction materials such as steel and concrete.
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