Syncrude Tar Sands Extraction Plant, Mildred Lake, Alberta, 1980.
In 1966 a pipeline was extended from the tar sands to Edmonton and in 1967 Great Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., the first major operator in the Athabasca tar sands, began production with the backing of Sun Oil. The largest producer, Syncrude, came on stream in 1978. A conglomerate of private interests (Esso, Canada-Cities Service, and Gulf), it was supported by a public investment of 30 per cent from the governments of Canada, Alberta, and Ontario in the form of equity guarantee. Other projects by major multi-national corporations are still pending. Also, other major tar and heavy oil sands projects await capital funding for in situ projects to tap their bitumen potential, rated as: Cold Lake, 26.2 million cubic metres; Peace River, 11.8 million cubic metres; Wabasca, 13.6 million cubic metres; Athabasca oil sands, 106.8 million cubic metres.
Over its projected twenty-five year life, this Syncrude extraction plant, located 40 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, is expected to produce 159 million cubic metres of synthetic oil. Four mammoth machines called drag lines (one is shown in foreground) place the tar sand in rows. Bucket-wheel reclaimers then move the sand onto conveyor belts that transport the sand to the plant. There, it moves through massive tumblers that create a slurry of sand and hot water. In separation vessels, aerated bitumen floats to the surface as froth, and with further treatment by naphtha the bitumen is converted into a tar-like substance. This is fed into fluid cokers which crack the bitumen down into its components: coke, gas, naphtha and gas-oil. The first two are either stockpiled or stored as fuel, and the last two are individually stored until they are blended into a high quality synthetic crude oil for pipeline delivery to Edmonton.
Courtesy: Syncrude Canada, Ltd., Victor Post Photography, St. Albert
