New coker problems at Syncrude....
Maintenance disrupted as Syncrude coker clogs
Canadian Press
CALGARY — The Syncrude Canada Ltd. oil sands consortium has had its maintenance schedule disrupted by residue build-up in its new coker, which came on-stream last year.
Canadian Oil Sands Trust, which has the biggest stake in the consortium, said Tuesday evening the 8-3 coker will undergo maintenance in the second quarter, possibly pushing turnarounds for the original cokers into early 2008.
This year's production estimate remains at 110 million barrels, but the top end of the forecast has been trimmed by five million barrels to 115 million.
Output is projected at 27 million barrels in the first quarter, 23 million in the second quarter, and 30 million in each of year's final two quarters.
“The decision to proceed with the maintenance work on coker 8-3 in the second quarter is expected to enable the coker to return to service at higher production rates, which will allow Syncrude to reduce throughput on the other cokers and thereby extend their run lengths,” the trust stated.
Cokers are massive vessels where bitumen is heated to crack its complex hydrocarbon molecules into simpler compounds, and coke is withdrawn to start the upgrading process into crude oil.
Elsewhere in the process, steam-system modifications are to be conducted as planned in the autumn, “which should enable Syncrude to transition all of its production volumes to the higher Syncrude sweet premium quality level by the fourth quarter.”
The lowering of the top of this year's forecast production range reflects “the reduced likelihood of achieving higher than expected operational reliability and stability,” said Canadian Oil Sands, which owns 36.7 per cent of Syncrude.
“The low end of the range has been maintained at 105 million barrels as the possibility of an additional coker turnaround continues to exist, particularly given the uncertainty in postponing the fall 2007 turnaround,” Canadian Oil Sands warned.
© Canadian Press