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Full production not expected at Mildred Lake until mid-July

Last Updated Jun 14, 2017 at 5:36 am MDT

PHOTO. Screenshot of video footage of the fire at Syncrude's Base Plant. March 14, 2017.

Suncor is expecting Syncrude’s Mildred lake Oil Sands facility to return to full capacity by mid-July.

At the beginning of May Suncor confirmed that shipments had started at approximately 140-thousand barrels per day (bpd).

They have since reduced that number to 130 kbpd.

In a press release, Suncor wrote that the repairs to the upgrader at the Mildred Lake Facility are progressing as planned and maintenance work scheduled for the fall was being added to the plan.

The plant had to temporarily shut down operations at the upgrader following a fire on March 14.

Suncor has given more details about the cause.

They say it was a split in a six inch carbon steel line on a naphtha hydrotreater recycle circuit. The damage was to a piperack adjacent to the hydrotreater, containing piping, cables and electrical circuits.

This maintenance is not expected to change Suncor’s overall production guidance for 2017.