COAL, URANIUM & OIL SANDS — Record production at Syncrude

Production of oil from the Syncrude oil sands plant at Fort McMurray, Alta., set a record in March.

Syncrude shipped a record 7.5 million barrels (just under 1.2 million cubic metres) in March, a daily average of 242,000 barrels (38,000 cubic metres). In the first quarter of 1999, the Syncrude extraction plant shipped 19.9 million barrels (3.2 million cubic metres) for record quarterly production. This is about 25% higher than last year, and beat Syncrude’s earlier record first quarter, in 1996, by 1.8 million barrels (286,000 cubic metres).

Syncrude plans to ship 82 million barrels (13 million cubic metres), up 7% from 1998. The company is a jont venture of 10 production companies, including Alberta Energy, Imperial Oil, Mocal Energy and Petro-Canada.