Syncrude is one of the largest producers of crude oil from Canada’s oil sands. The company operates large oil sands mines, a utilities plant, a bitumen extraction plant and upgrading facility that processes bitumen and produces value-added light, sweet crude oil for domestic consumption and export. In 2017, 91.2 million barrels of Syncrude Crude Oil (SCO) were shipped from the company’s operations, approximately 40 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Syncrude is committed to excellence in environment, health and safety performance, and strong relationships with its communities of interest. The company is one of Canada’s largest industrial employers of Indigenous people, who comprise 10 per cent of its employee workforce. Syncrude has also conducted over $3 billion in business with Indigenous-owned and operated companies over the last 25 years.

Toward returning the land disturbed by mining activities to equivalent ecosystem capability, Syncrude has to date reclaimed over 3,600 hectares of land and planted over eight million tree and shrub seedlings. Syncrude is also the first company in the Canadian oil sands industry to receive certification for a reclaimed area.

Syncrude’s performance has been strengthened by its participation in TSM and the company’s 2017 self-assessment shows continued progress and positive results.

Level AAA ratings for the Aboriginal and Community Outreach Protocol were achieved in all indicators. Syncrude is accredited at the Gold Level in the Progressive Aboriginal Relations program of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business. A management-level group oversees Syncrude’s Aboriginal engagement plan and COI input is sought to drive future performance.

Syncrude scored “Yes” in all areas of the Crisis Management and Communications Planning Protocol. The company regularly conducts emergency response simulations, including desktop and site-wide simulations, to ensure all personnel are properly trained and tested.

Pre-plans exist for all medium- and high-level risks, and spokespeople are identified and trained.

Syncrude is committed to protecting and promoting the safety and well-being of employees, contractors, communities, and the environment. This was evident in AAA ratings across all indicators of the Safety and Health Protocol for 2017.

Level A ratings were achieved in all areas of Tailings Management Protocol, demonstrated through senior management endorsement, accountabilities, budget allocation, annual reviews, and formal reporting systems.

Syncrude achieved AAA in all indicators of the Biodiversity Conservation Management Protocol. The company continues to have strong systems in place to manage biodiversity throughout the lifecycle of its mining areas, from pre-disturbance to reclamation.

For Energy Use and GHG Emissions Management Protocol, Syncrude attained Level AAA ratings in the management and reporting systems indicators, however due to reliability issues and lower than anticipated production levels, the company did not meet its targets in 2017. This resulted in a Level B for the performance indicator.

The Syncrude Project is a joint venture undertaking among Imperial Oil Resources Limited; Nexen Oil Sands Partnership; Sinopec Oil Sands Partnership; and Suncor Energy Inc. (with the Suncor interest held by Canadian Oil Sands Partnership #1 and Suncor Energy Ventures Partnership, both wholly owned affiliates of Suncor Energy Inc.), as the project owners, and Syncrude as the project operator.

For more information, please visit www.syncrude.ca