Suncor begins planned maintenance at two Canadian refineries

Suncor Energy Inc. has started planned maintenance at both its 142,000-b/d refinery in Edmonton, Alta., and 85,000-b/d refinery in Sarnia, Ont., the company said.

Maintenance activities at the two refineries are part of an ongoing, regularly scheduled maintenance program designed to support safe, reliable operations, Suncor said.

Maintenance work at the Edmonton refinery will involve about 600 employees and contractors and is scheduled to last about 4 weeks, while maintenance at the Sarnia refinery, which is scheduled to run for 8 weeks, will require a workforce of about 1,000 people, the company said.

While Suncor said it has taken precautions to ensure disruptions to surrounding areas of both refineries are kept to a minimum during the maintenance period, planned work activities at the plants may result in increased maintenance-related flaring, noise, and traffic.

The impacts to crude throughputs and utilization rates for both refineries already have been factored into Suncor’s annual guidance, the company said.

Suncor did not disclose details regarding the specific nature or scope of scheduled projects for either of the refineries.