Image: North West Redwater Partnership The expected startup of full commercial operations at the Sturgeon Refinery has been pushed out again, from by the end of 2019 to early 2020. An update on Monday from North West Redwater Partnership said that additional work and testing is required on the $9.5-billion facility’s gasifier, the unit that has held up the project’s switch from synthetic crude oil (SCO) to bitumen feedstock for more than a year. The Sturgeon Refinery has been processing SCO into diesel since November 2017. At start up, the project was expected to complete the switch to bitumen by the end of 2018. Ongoing diesel production is made possible because SCO is a partially upgraded product and does not need all units operational, North West has said. The gasifier unit will process the heaviest portion of the bitumen barrel into hydrogen for the refining process, and produce pure CO2 to be captured for enhanced oil recovery. “Multiple issues” occurred during the initial commissioning phase, including shorter than expected lifespan of the unit’s reactor burners and stress cracking in portions of the stainless steel piping and welds, project owners Canadian Natural Resources and North West Refining said in May. […]
