Production of synthetic crude oil that is processed from Alberta’s oil sands reached record highs at the end of 2020 after touching on two year lows just four months earlier. However, these highs could be undermined and sink to four-year lows for a short period of time this spring with what appears to be a heavier than usual slate of maintenance work on three of Alberta’s four upgraders, the immense processing units that produce synthetic crude oil from bitumen. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at the upgraders, the timing of maintenance, and what this might mean for synthetic crude oil production and exports.
Canadian crude output is rising, requiring new export routes. As traditional pathways face constraints, the U.S. Rockies—especially the Guernsey, WY hub—are emerging as key corridors for moving Canadian heavy crude to downstream markets, including the Gulf Coast.
Alberta’s production of synthetic crude oil (SCO) began in the late 1960s when the first experimental attempts were made to upgrade the molasses-like, viscous crude known as bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands into a more usable form of light crude oil. After several decades of development, SCO really started to become a serious player in Alberta’s and Canada’s crude oil production slate in the past decade. As its name suggests, SCO is not a naturally occurring form of crude oil but is the product of a chemical transformation that uses bitumen as the feedstock. By passing the bitumen through large processing units known as upgraders that carry out this chemical transformation, the sludgy hydrocarbon becomes a flowable, light crude known as SCO for use in refineries, with an API gravity similar to WTI, but with an even lower sulfur content.
Alberta currently has four major upgraders that are dedicated to the production of SCO (Figure 1) with a combined output capacity of 1.27 MMb/d. Although expansions have taken place at all four sites over the years, the newest is the Horizon upgrader operated by Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL), which began operations in 2009. Excluded from this list is the Sturgeon Refinery, which while regulated as an upgrader by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) processes bitumen to produce intermediate refinery products and ultra-low sulfur diesel. Also not included is the Long Lake Upgrader (capacity 58.5 Mb/d), which was shut down in early 2016 due to numerous technical issues with feedstock from its nearby bitumen reservoir.
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About the song
"Turn Around, Look at Me" was written by Jerry Capehart, and appears as the 12th song on The Vogues’ third studio album of the same name. The Vogues released a single of the song in June 1968. Produced by Dick Glasser, the song went to #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart and #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. The Vogues’ version of the song was used extensively in a 2019 Volkswagen commercial. Glen Campbell and The Lettermen also released singles of the song that charted in the Hot 100 Singles list. Personnel on The Vogues’ version were: Bill Burkette (lead baritone), Don Miller (baritone), Hugh Geyer (first tenor), and Chuck Blasko (second tenor).
The Vogues are an American vocal group formed in Turtle Creek, PA, in 1958, when all the members were in high school together. At that time they were called The Val-Aires. Later, when they signed a deal with producer Nick Cenci in 1965, they changed their name to The Vogues. The group has released eight studio albums and 32 singles (including two as The Val-Aires). They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001. Fifteen members have passed through the ranks of The Vogues since its formation, Original member Bill Burkett died in 2018 and Don Miller in January 2021. Troy Elich now owns the trademark to The Vogues, and still tours under that name with other non-original members.
