Early on August 29, a process fire occurred in the interconnecting piping between the hydrotreating units and environmental units at Syncrude's Mildred Lake upgrader. Emergency personnel quickly responded to the incident and safely extinguished the fire. No injuries were associated with the event and there was no environmental impact.

Syncrude is currently developing a full recovery plan, beginning with an investigation to determine the cause of the incident. The main coker conversion units were not damaged and Syncrude continues to operate, however, synthetic crude oil production has been temporarily suspended while a recovery and repair strategy are being developed.

Canadian Oil Sands maintains US$1.65 billion of combined property and business interruption insurance, with repairs for damaged plant and equipment subject to a $US nine million deductible, net to Canadian Oil Sands.

Tags: Canadian Oil Sands Limited