Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

STATUS OF OIL SANDS PROJECTS (Underline denotes changes since June 1994)
COMMERCIAL PROJECTS (Continued)
- SUNNYSIDE PROJECT Amoco
Production Company (T-200)
Amoco Corporation is studying the feasibility of a commercial project on 1,120 acres of fee property and 9,600 acres of com
bined hydrocarbon leases in the Sunnyside deposit in Carbon County, Utah. Research is continuing on various extraction and
retorting technologies. The available core data are being used to determine the extent of the mineable resource base in the
area and to provide direction for any subsequent exploration work.
A geologic field study was completed in September 1986; additional field work was completed in 1987. In response to Mono
Power Company's solicitation to sell their (federal) lease interests in Sunnyside tar sands, Amoco Production acquired Mono
Power's Combined Hydrocarbon Leases effective August 14, 1986. Amoco continued due diligence efforts in the field in 1988.
This work includes a tar sand coring program to better define the resource in the Combined Hydrocarbon Lease.
Project Cost: Not disclosed
- SYNCO SUNNYSIDE PROJECT Synco Energy Corporation (T-220)
Synco Energy Corporation of Orem, Utah is seeking to raise capita] to construct a plant at Sunnyside in Utah's Carbon County
to produce oil and electricity from coal and tar sands.
The Synco process to extract oil from tar sands uses coal gasification to make a synthetic gas. The gas is cooled to 2,000 de
grees F by making steam and then mixed with the tar sands in a variable speed rotary kiln. The hot synthetic gas vaporizes the
oil out of the tar sands and this is then fractionated into a mixture of kerosene (jet fuel), diesel fuel, gasoline, other gases, and
heavy ends.
The syngas from the gasifier is separated from the oil product, the sulfur and CO removed and the gas is burned in a gas tur
bine to produce electricity. The hot exhaust gases are then used to make steam and cogenerated electricity. Testing indicates
that the hydrogen-rich syngas from the gasified coal lends to good cracking and hydrogen upgrading in the kiln.
The plant would be built at Sunnyside, Utah, near the City of Price.
There is a reserve of four billion barrels of oil in the tar sands and 230 million tons of coal at the Sunnyside site. Both raw
materials could be conveyed to the plant by conveyor belt.
The demonstration size plant would produce 8,000 barrels of refined oil, 330 megawatts of electricity, and various other
products including marketable amounts of sulfur.
An application has been filed by Synco with the Utah Division of State Lands for an industrial special use lease containing the
entire Section 36 of State land bordering the town of Sunnyside, Utah. Synco holds process patents in the U.S., Canada and
Venezuela and is looking for a company to joint venture with on this project.
Project is on hold.
- SYNCRUDE CANADA, LTD. Imperial
Oil Resources (25.0%); Petro-Canada (12.0%); Province of Alberta (11.74%); Alberta
Energy Company Ltd. (10.0%); PanCanadian Gas Products Limited (10.0%); Gulf Canada Resources Limited (9.03%); Canadian
Occidental Petroleum Ltd. (7.23%); AEC Oil Sands Ltd. Partnership (5.0%); Murphy Oil Company (5.0%); Mocal Energy Limited
(5.0%)
(T-230)
Located near Fort McMurray, the Syncrude surface mining, extraction and upgrading plant produces 190.000 barrels per calen
dar day. The original plant with a capacity of 108,000 barrels was based upon: oil sand mining and ore delivery with four
dragline-bucketwheel reclaimer-conveyor systems; oil extraction with hot water flotation of the ore followed by dilution
centrifuging; and upgrading by fluid coking followed by hydrotreating. During 1988, a 6-year $1.5 billion investment program
in plant capacity was completed to bring the production capability to over 155,000 barrels per calendar day. Included in this in
vestment program were a 40,000 barrel per day L-C Fining hydrocracker, additional hydrotreating and sulfur recovery capacity,
and auxiliary mine feed systems as well as debottlenecking of the original processes.
In 1992 production operating costs were about C$15.39 per barrel. Syncrude Canada Ltd. produced 12 percent of Canada's
crude oil requirements in 1992. In 1993 operating costs were $15.47 per barrel.
In 1992, Syncrude announced that it is seeking approval from the Alberta Energy Resources Board (ERCB) to increase output
by 28 percent. This was approved in 1994.
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SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995