Canadian Oil Sands cuts 2009 Syncrude estimate

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian Oil Sands Trust said on Friday it is cutting its 2009 outlook for production from the Syncrude Canada Ltd oil sands venture, the world’s largest producer of synthetic oil.

Canadian Oil, the joint venture’s largest owner, cut the production forecast to 109 million barrels from 115 million barrels. It said this works out to 40 million barrels of production net to the trust, down from 42.3 million.


The revised estimate comes after Canadian Oil Sands said on Tuesday that Syncrude had taken one of its main processing units offline for two months of planned maintenance.

It said then that coker 8-3, part of Syncrude’s upgrading operations, will undergo modifications to improve yield and run length during the turnaround.

Syncrude, which can produce as much as 350,000 barrels a day, has two other coker units that turn tar-like crude from the oil sands into refinery-ready light oil.

Reuters