Labour / Migration

Syncrude worker found dead at Mildred Lake site

Updated: Thu Jan. 01 2009 18:47:13

ctvedmonton.ca

It was a tragic end to 2008 for a Syncrude employee in northern Alberta. The worker was found unconscious at Syncrude's Mildred Lake upgrader at about 10:30 Wednesday morning.

He was discovered on a catwalk in the Hydro Processing area of the upgrader. He was rushed to hospital in Fort McMurray where he was pronounced dead.

Occupational Health and Safety is investigating. A provincial government spokesperson says it appears the employee was struck by a piece of falling ice.

WANING of the BOOM
Once the dream factory for 24,000 mobile workers, Fort McMurray's slowdown may be most devastating for the communities across Canada who export them.
GORDON PITTS
December 29, 2008

FORT McMURRAY, ALTA. -- Hungry young tradesmen like Evan Brewer used to be as plentiful on the ground in Fort McMurray as chips at the Boomtown Casino. They'd get off the plane from Atlantic Canada and score big money in the oil sands.

Petro-Canada working on costs
Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post Published: Friday, December 12, 2008

CALGARY -- Petro-Canada is seeing "a pretty good response" as it re-negotiates deals to bring down costs at its delayed Fort Hills oil sands project, Ron Brenneman, chief executive, said Friday.

"I don't know where it will end up or whether it's enough to make a difference in the overall project economics," but costs are moving down and are becoming more predictable, Mr. Brenneman said in an interview.

Workers vote to end 13-month lockout at Petro-Canada refinery
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 |
CBC News

Workers at a Petro-Canada refinery in Montreal have voted to accept a new collective agreement, a move that will put an end to a 13-month lockout.

Union officials, representing 260 employees, said Tuesday the agreement was accepted by 94.6 per cent of members. Employees will be back at work Jan. 12.

Superior at center of oil production plans
By Dan Egan/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Superior Telegram
Published Wednesday, December 24, 2008

SUPERIOR — U.S. dependence on foreign oil conjures images of derricks pecking at Saudi Arabian sands or supertankers steaming for coastal refineries.

But here is a more apt icon for our future reliance on other nations’ fossil fuels: fields just south of Lake Superior pocked with gymnasium-sized tanks of oil piped 1,000 miles from tar sands in Alberta — one of the largest proven “unconventional” oil reserves in the world.

New Technology Could Help Oil Sands Producers (SU)

SRI Consulting published a new report on producing crude oil from western Canada's oil sands deposits. The report concludes that "with rational engineering and prudent business decision making, grass roots tar sands projects should be economically viable at benchmark crude oil prices below US$60 a barrel." This brings about good news and bad news for the Canadian Oil Sands sector.

VANOC may axe Whistler ceremonies
By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURS, Dec 24, 2008

A Whistler forest may have been cut for naught.

Medals are supposed to be awarded nightly at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver and the Celebration Plaza next to Whistler Village during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Vancouver 2010 organizers -- faced with unprecedented recessionary pressure for a North American-held Games -- may cancel the Whistler ceremonies to save money.

Voyageur contractors to stay home
Suncor asks workers to hold off ‘remobilizing’ in wake of plummeting oil prices
December 22, 2008
By CAROL CHRISTIAN // Today staff

Some contractors have been asked not to return to Suncor Energy right after Christmas as the company revisits its Voyageur project as oil prices sink lower than predicted.

Suncor spokesman Brad Bellows confirmed this morning the company has asked some of its contractor workforce to hold off “remobilizing” immediately after Christmas.

Bellows didn’t say how many workers would be affected.

Once-booming oilsands face uncertain future as list of cancelled projects grows
By JIM MACDONALD, The Canadian Press
December 22, 2008

EDMONTON — Thousands of workers from as far away as the Philippines are watching their jobs in Alberta evaporate as the richest oil boom in the province’s history deflates.

Sinking oil prices have forced skittish investors to hedge their bets on half a dozen multibillion-dollar oilsands projects, leaving one of the key engines of Canada’s economy teetering on an uncertain future.

Oil Sands Output Cuts Unlikely Despite Sliding Crude Price

OTTAWA (Dow Jones)--The plunge in oil prices has forced the first output cut in Canada, but shutdowns across the country's abundant oil sands are a distant prospect.

Earlier this week, Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd (CLL.T) said it will nearly halve output from its Great Divide oil sands project to 5,000 barrels a day indefinitely. The development in northern Alberta had been producing around 9,000 barrels a day of the sludgy bitumen, which sells for less than benchmark light, sweet crude due to its poor quality.