Syncrude is one of the largest operators in Canada’s growing oil sands industry, with a 50-year history of innovation. Based in Fort McMurray, Alberta, and with a large research and development facility in Edmonton, Syncrude is known for pioneering many of the technologies used today in the industry, including an expanding suite of techniques to improve environmental and economic performance.
- Syncrude Canada Ltd. was incorporated in 1964 and started operations in 1978.
- Current production capacity is 350,000 barrels per day of high quality light, low sulphur crude oil – enough to supply 6.2 million Canadians with their petroleum requirements. Cumulative production now exceeds 2.4 billion barrels. We annually contribute more than $6 billion to Canada’s economy through the payment of wages, royalties and taxes and procurement of goods and services.
- Syncrude currently employs approximately 5,000 people directly and an average of about 2,400 contractor employees. Our operations provide jobs for many more thousands of people directly and indirectly across Canada.
- Syncrude is also a recognized leader in Aboriginal relations, with procurement of $228 million from local Aboriginal companies in 2014 and our status as one of the country’s largest employers of Aboriginal people.
- We are consistently among Canada’s top investors in research and development, spending $107 million in 2014 alone. More than 60% of these expenditures are focused on environmental research.
- To date, more than 4,500 hectares of land disturbed by Syncrude oil sands mining operations is permanently reclaimed or ready for re-vegetation, including 81 hectares in 2014. We have planted more than 7.4 million tree and shrub seedlings, including 157,000 seedlings planted in 2014. In 2008, Syncrude was the first company in the Canadian oil sands industry to receive certification from the Alberta government for a reclaimed area. Called Gateway Hill, the area was planted in the early 1980s and is now a healthy forest of broad leaf and needle leaf trees interspersed by several wetlands.
- Our corporate headquarters are located in the city of Fort McMurray, 440 kilometres northeast of Edmonton, Alberta. Our Mildred Lake facility is 40 kilometres north of the city, with our Aurora project located an additional 35 kilometres north of Mildred Lake. Our operations are found on the Athabasca Oil Sands Deposit.
- The Syncrude Project is a Joint Venture undertaking among Canadian Oil Sands Partnership #1, Imperial Oil Resources, Mocal Energy Limited, Murphy Oil Company Ltd., Nexen Oil Sands Partnership, Sinopec Oil Sands Partnership and Suncor Energy Ventures Partnership, as the project owners, and Syncrude as the project operator.
Our Vision & Values
Syncrude’s Vision and Values were developed in the early 1990s to lead us in our commitment to responsibly develop the oil sands resource. It guides us every day and in everything we do:
Securing Canada’s Energy Future
with
The Vision to Lead
The Knowledge to Succeed
The Commitment to Do Better
And the Heart to Win the Race
We Will Achieve This By:
Encouraging learning and innovation in everything we do;
Pushing the limits of what technology can accomplish;
Working together to make Syncrude the best place to work.
In this way we will be Safe, Reliable, Responsible and Profitable and all our stakeholders will want to invest in our future
SH&E Policy
Safety, Health and Environment Policy
At Syncrude we are committed to protecting and promoting the safety and well-being of our employees, our contractors, our communities and our environment. We believe excellence and continuous improvement in safety, health and environmental performance are in the best interest of stakeholders and ourselves. Indeed, our success and reputation as a socially and environmentally responsible operator depend upon it.
Our desired outcome is a workplace where everyone upholds Syncrude’s Vision, Values and Guiding Principles – one which protects people, property and the environment, and one which ensures all employees and contractors understand and demonstrate their personal commitment to operational excellence and sustainable development.
Toward this:
- we aim for a safe and reliable operation where all risks that could compromise the health, security and safety of workers, neighbouring communities or the environment, are identified, understood and managed
- we integrate safety, health, environmental, social and economic factors, as well as stakeholder considerations, into all business decisions
- we establish and steward to challenging targets, and measure and verify our performance regularly
- we meet or exceed all regulated standards for safety, health and environmental performance, and publicly report on our progress
- we continually improve by fostering a workplace where everyone understands their personal and shared accountabilities to meeting these objectives
- we are collaborative and learn from world-class practices, incorporating knowledge and innovation into our systems, practices and procedures
- management upholds a visible leadership role in advocating the importance of safety, health, environmental and social responsibility throughout our operation and in appropriate regional, provincial and national forums.
Through these efforts and the collective experience of all employees and contractors, Syncrude will be a leader in responsible oil sands development.
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