Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Oil production at the Syncrude Canada Ltd. oil sands project will be cut by 85,000 to 100,000 barrels a day until Nov. 27 while part of its upgrading-refinery complex is repaired, the Syncrude joint-venture's largest shareholder said.

Canadian Oil Sands Trust, which holds a 35.5 percent stake in Syncrude, Canada's largest oil-sands producer, said minor repairs will have to be made at its Coker 8-2 after a leak in an overhead line was spotted on Saturday.

The trust said production will continue from the project's two other cokers, part of the upgrading refinery that converts bitumen mined from the sands of Northern Alberta into synthetic crude oil.

After Nov. 27 production is expected to return to the project's normal output of nearly 350,000 barrels a day