2004, Natural Resources Canada
Syncrude’s CSR activities are founded on a belief that sustainable development not only incorporates environmental and economic objectives, but also acknowledges the importance of stakeholder relations to business success. The company engages a broad range of stakeholders to ensure the company, and industry, address any strains on communities and the environment resulting from rapid industrial development in remote areas. Syncrude Canada Ltd is the world’s largest producer of crude oil from oil sands. In 2001, the company produced 81.4 million barrels of sweet crude oil—the equivalent of 223 000 barrels a day—and supplied Canada with 13 percent of its petroleum needs. Syncrude’s final refined product, Syncrude Sweet Blend, is sent south by pipeline to refineries in Edmonton, the USA and the rest of Canada, where it is further refined into gasoline, diesel fuel and other derivatives. The company’s revenues in 2001 were $3.2 billion. Syncrude’s operations are located on the Athabasca oil sands deposit near the First Nations community of Fort McKay in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo of north-eastern Alberta. In 1983, Syncrude moved its headquarters from Edmonton to Fort McMurray, 435 kilometres to the north, in order to be closer to its operations. Fort McMurray is a one-industry town of 50 000 people, that until recently had only two players: Syncrude and Suncor. This has begun to change as new companies have entered the oil sands business. Large new comers include Shell/Albian, EnCana Corporation, Canadian Natural Resources, Petro-Canada, True North Energy, and Nexen, among others. Despite this, Syncrude remains a large presence situated in one of the most sparsely populated regions in Canada.
