North West Redwater Partnership (NWRP) has started diesel production at the first phase of its long-planned greenfield bitumen refinery still under construction in Sturgeon County, about 45 km northeast of Edmonton, Alta. (OGJ Online, Jan. 28, 2010).
Operator North West Refining Inc. (NWR) began producing diesel from Canadian Synthetic crude oil feedstock at the refinery on Dec. 12, marking a major milestone on the way to full commercial operation in 2018 of its 79,000-b/d Phase 1 development, NWRP said.
Start of diesel production comes amid commissioning of several units at the site as part of a series of performance measures that must be met before Phase 1 of the refinery reaches full operations.
Construction in other areas of the project—which was more than 95% completed as of late August—remains ongoing, NWRP said.
Once fully commissioned, the Sturgeon refinery will process 240,000 b/d of Canadian bitumen feedstock to produce ultralow-sulfur diesel, diluent, and other bitumen products for both domestic and global markets, according to NWR’s web site.
The refinery originally was to include three 50,000-b/d phases for a total processing capacity of 150,000-b/d (OGJ Online, Nov. 16, 2016).
Neither NWRP nor NWR responded to requests for clarification regarding the apparent update to proposed processing capacities of the refinery’s three phases.
NWRP is a joint venture of NWR (formerly North West Upgrading Inc.), Calgary. Canadian Natural Upgrading Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., is also of Calgary.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
