The Syncrude Refinery near Ft. McMurray, Alberta shut down coker 8-3 after a fire on December 5th. The Coker continued making gas despite damage to the electrostatic precipitators (ESP) which are used to knock out fine dust particles from coker flue gas. Eventually government regulations require they discontinue operating at the reduced rates because of a limit on how long they can bypass the flue gas stream.
Syncrude’s other 2 cokers have a capacity of 70,000 to 90,000 barrels per day.Production from the rest of the facility which operates at 350,000 barrels/day is not expected to be affected. The unit will be back on line in about 2 to 4 weeks.
Paul Orlowski
