Could not be at a wose time
Globe says Canadian Oil Sands halts oil shipments
2015-09-01 07:08 ET - In the News
The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that Canadian Oil Sands is no longer shipping oil after a fire damaged part of its upgrading plant. The Globe's Carrie Carrie Tait writes that parts of Syncrude's piping system at one of its upgrading facilities caught fire last Friday, forcing the joint-venture project to stop producing fully upgraded synthetic crude oil. Syncrude is still mining bitumen and parts of the upgrader are still running. The project has the ability to store bitumen and partially upgraded oil, but that capacity is measured in days rather than weeks. Canadian Oil Sands does not know how long Syncrude will be sidelined. The mining and upgrading project has a troubled past, frequently breaking down and having to trim production expectations. Canadian Oil Sands, the project's largest owner, does not know what caused the fire or when it will be able to repair the damaged facility. This comes as the firm struggles to manage its debtload as global oil prices remain in the gutter. The fire, which occurred at its Mildred Lake operation, was extinguished Friday and disclosed Saturday. No one was hurt. Its main coker units, which are part of the upgrading process, were not damaged.