By an OGJ Online Correspondent
CALGARY, Apr. 26 -- The Syncrude Canada Ltd. consortium reports record first quarter production from its oil sands operation in northern Alberta.
The group reported first quarter production of 21.3 million bbl of synthetic crude, or 237,000 b/d. That compared with 16.2 million bbl or 178,000 b/d in first quarter 2000, when the operation had a coker maintenance turnaround.
Syncrude said it also racked up daily, weekly, and monthly production records in the first quarter, with a daily record of 291,700 bbl.
It reported total unit costs for the first quarter of $20.08/bbl, with more than $6 attributed to higher purchased energy costs and increased natural gas prices.
Additional increased unit costs of $3 bbl were due to lower than planned production levels, higher than planned production costs due to ore processing problems, and maintenance costs to ensure continuing reliability of operations.