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The Athabasca oil sands, also known as the Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of oil sands rich in bitumen, a heavy and viscous form of petroleum, in northeastern Alberta, Canada. These reserves are one of the largest sources of unconventional oil in the world, making Canada a significant player in the global energy market.
Syncrude Canada Ltd. is one of the world's largest producers of synthetic crude oil from oil sands and the largest single source producer in Canada.It is located just outside Fort McMurray in the Athabasca Oil Sands, and has a nameplate capacity of 350,000 barrels per day (56,000 m 3 /d) of oil, equivalent to about 13% of Canada's consumption. [1]
It is located 40 km (25 mi) north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, at the northern end of the Mildred Lake lease area owned by Syncrude Canada Ltd. The dam and the tailings reservoir within it are constructed and maintained as part of ongoing operations by Syncrude in extracting oil from the Athabasca oil sands.
Syncrude, which operates a surface mining oil sands plant in northeastern Alberta, is currently implementing a multi-pronged approach to manage tailings - the byproduct of the bitumen extraction ...
As of 2009, Syncrude and Irving Oil were leaders in the Canadian industry, with Syncrude being the top producer of oil sands crude and Irving Oil operating the largest oil refinery in the country. [5] Canadian oil company profits quickly recovered following the 2008 financial crisis; In 2009 they were down 90% but in 2010 they reached $8.4 billion.
The largest Canadian oil sands deposit, the Athabasca oil sands is in the McMurray Formation, centered on the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta. It outcrops on the surface (zero burial depth) about 50 km (30 miles) north of Fort McMurray, where enormous oil sands mines have been established, but is 400 m (1,300 ft) deep southeast of Fort McMurray.
The Shell Scotford Upgrader is an oilsand upgrader, a facility which processes crude bitumen from oil sands into a wide range of synthetic crude oils. The upgrader is owned by Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP), a joint venture of Shell Canada Energy (60%), Marathon Oil Sands L.P. (20%) and Chevron Canada Limited (20%).
Oil sand tailings or oil sands process-affected water (OSPW), have a highly variable composition and a complex mixture of compounds. [4] In his oft-cited 2008 journal article, E. W. Allen wrote that typically tailings ponds consist of c. 75% water, c. 25% sand, silt and clay, c.2% of residual bitumen, as well as dissolved salts, organics, and minerals.