Production at the Syncrude oil sands project near Fort McMurray, Alberta, remains offline after a weekend equipment fire.
According to Canadian Oil Sands Limited, a process fire occurred in the interconnecting piping between the hydrotreating units and environmental units at Syncrude’s Mildred Lake upgrader on Saturday.
Emergency personnel responded quickly to the incident and safely extinguished the fire.
No injuries occurred and there was no environmental impact.
Syncrude, a joint venture that operates the project, is currently developing a full recovery plan that will begin with an investigation to determine the cause of the incident.
The main coker conversion units were not damaged and Syncrude continues to operate.
However, synthetic crude oil production has been temporarily suspended while a recovery and repair strategy are being developed.
The Alberta Energy Regulator is also looking into the incident, Fort McMurray Today said.
Syncrude produced 326,000 barrels per day in July but production has hovered around 261,500 bpd this year after a major turnaround in the second quarter, Reuters said.
Canadian Oil Sands Limited holds a 36.74 percent stake in Syncrude, Imperial Oil Resources holds a 25 percent stake, Suncor Energy Ventures Partnership holds a 12 percent stake, Sinopec Oil Sands Partnership holds a 9.03 percent stake, Nexen Oil Sands Partnership holds a 7.23 percent percent stake, Mocal Energy Limited holds a 5 percent stake and Murphy Oil Company Ltd. holds a 5 percent stake.
