Business
Athabasca Oil Sands Project Turnaround Update
Athabasca Oil Sands Project Turnaround Update.
About this update from Mapath Capital Corp
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n\nCALGARY, June 12 /CNW/ - Shell Canada Limited announced today that\ncompletion of the first major scheduled maintenance turnaround of the\nAthabasca Oil Sands Project will be extended beyond the previously announced\neight week duration because additional work is required. Start-up is now\nexpected to begin late June, building to fully integrated production rates by\nmid-July.\nThe complex and extensive shutdown, which includes the Muskeg River Mine\n(MRM) and the Scotford Upgrader, started the beginning of May. Following\ninitial cleaning and inspection of the equipment, a decision was taken to\nundertake additional maintenance and repair work at both MRM and the Upgrader\nincluding the removal of large amounts of coke from the reactor vessels at\nScotford. This turnaround is the largest in Shell Canada's history and\nemployed over 4,000 maintenance workers at its peak.\nShell's share of the turnaround costs is expected to be in the range of\n$100 million to $125 million, the majority of which will be incurred in the\nsecond quarter.\nShell is working closely with customers to manage the reduced synthetic\ncrude production due to the shutdown extension. In addition, Shell's Scotford\nRefinery has secured alternate feedstock so its operations and customer\ncommitments are unaffected.\nThe Muskeg River Mine is located about 75 kilometres north of Fort\nMcMurray, Alberta. The Scotford Upgrader is located near Fort Saskatchewan,\nnortheast of Edmonton. Together the facilities make up the Athabasca Oil Sands\nProject, a joint venture among Shell Canada Limited (60%), Chevron Canada\nLimited (20%) and Western Oil Sands L.P. (20%).\n\nThis document contains \"forward-looking statements\" based upon\nmanagement's assessment of the Corporation's operations. The forward-looking\nstatements contained in this document include references to turnaround\nschedules and costs, future production, operational reliability and product\nsupply arrangements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on\nforward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve numerous\nassumptions, known and unknown risks, and uncertainties that may cause the\nCorporation's actual performance or results to differ materially from any\nestimates or projections of future performance or results expressed or implied\nby such forward-looking stateme...