By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 16 -- Suncor Energy Inc. has shut down its Millennium oil sands project hydrogen unit to replace a leaking gasket that led to a small fire Apr. 9. The outage of this hydrogen unit—one of two at the oil sands plant—is expected to take up to 10 days and is expected to reduce average production in April to about 180,000 b/d.
There were no injuries, and the hydrogen unit sustained only minimal damage. The unit generates pure hydrogen that removes sulfur and nitrogen, allowing sour crude oil to be upgraded into sweet crude oil. Suncor will use the downtime to bring forward other opportune maintenance work.
Late last year, after commissioning its Project Millennium expansion, Suncor anticipated production challenges during the first 6 months as the company fully integrated its new facilities with base plant production. Since January, the company has seen a steady improvement in production, which during Apr. 1-9 averaged more than 220,000 b/d.