Strathcona Refinery

Strathcona Refinery
CountryCanada
ProvinceAlberta
CitySherwood Park
Coordinates53°32′46″N 113°23′30″W / 53.54611°N 113.39167°W / 53.54611; -113.39167
Refinery details
OperatorImperial Oil
Owner(s)Imperial Oil
Commissioned1975
Capacity187,000 bbl/d (29,700 m3/d)
No. of employees450
Oil refining centerRefinery Row

The Strathcona Refinery is an oil refinery located in Strathcona County adjacent to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, owned by Imperial Oil. The refinery provides oil products, primarily gasoline, aviation fuel, diesel, lubricating oils, petroleum waxes, heavy fuel oil and asphalts.[1]

The refinery was built in 1975 and replaced older refineries in Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, and Calgary.[2]

A fire occurred at the refinery in 2007 that resulted it in temporarily operating at reduced capacity.[3]

Avgas contamination

On February 15, 2018 Imperial Oil Limited the Canadian subsidiary of U.S. petroleum company ExxonMobil and sole producer of Avgas in Canada announced[4] that it had notified Transport Canada that it was immediately ceasing all production of AVGas produced at the Strathcona Refinery due to quality issues, specifically that "the product quality issue may cause interference with on-board fuel gauge sensors of aircraft using avgas." Imperial also sent out warnings to airport FBOs about the quality issues and ordered that all sales of Avgas since December 28, 2017 be stopped and the fuel in question be quarantined until Imperial can make arrangements to have the fuel returned to the refinery. As a result many small aircraft have been left stranded at airports across Canada until fuel supplies from neighboring U.S. can be delivered.

Refinery units

Refinery unit capacities as of 2018[5]

Unit Capacity in bpcd
Atmospheric Distillation Unit 189,000
Vacuum Distillation Unit 69,000
FCC Unit 64,500
Naphtha Reformer 21,000
Gasoline Desulphurization Hydrotreater 30,500
ULSD Hydrotreater 78,500
Other Hydrotrreating 52,000
Alkylation 15,500
C4 Isomerization 6,500
H2 SMR Production mmscf/d 20.0
Lubes 3,000
Sulfur mt/d 49


See also

References

  1. ^ "Strathcona Refinery". Imperial Oil. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
  2. ^ "About Imperial Oil". Imperial Oil. Archived from the original on March 14, 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  3. ^ "Imperial Oil assesses impact of refinery fire". Edmonton Journal. June 3, 2007. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
  4. ^ "Imperial notifies Transport Canada of potential aviation fuel quality issue" (Press Release). Calgary, AB: Imperial Oil. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  5. ^ "2018 Worldwide Refining Capacity Summary". Oil & Gas Journal – via Print.