Syncrude reduces oil shipments from Mildred Lake site
Syncrude has reduced shipments of synthetic crude oil from its Mildred Lake, Alta., oilsands upgrader due to ongoing maintenance after the facility was shut down following a March 14 explosion and fire.
Suncor, the majority owner of Syncrude, said in May it was shipping 140,000 barrels per day from Mildred Lake, a number the company expected to rise as seasonal maintenance was completed at the plant.
On Tuesday evening, however, the company revised its output to 130,000 barrels per day, citing an accelerated maintenance schedule.
"The maintenance brought forward was included in Syncrude's 2017 production plan," Suncor said in a news release. "There is no change to Suncor's overall production guidance for 2017."
The company also gave new details about the cause of the explosion and fire that burned for two days, seriously injured one worker and forced the facility to shut down.
Suncor said the cause of the incident was "a split in a six-inch carbon steel line on a naphtha hydrotreater recycle circuit."
The damage, the company said, was mostly isolated to a pipe rack next to the hydrotreater, which contained pipes, cables and electrical circuits.
The Mildred Lake upgrader is located 40 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
