Rotork is supplying several hundred electric and pneumatic valve actuators and control systems throughout an extensive oil production development in northern Alberta, Canada. The Athabasca Oil Sands project consists of two main components, the CAD 1.8 billion Muskeg River Mine, located 75km north of Fort McMurray, and the CAD 2.3 billion Scotford Upgrader at Fort Saskatchewan. At both sites Atco Power Canada is building co-generation power plants to meet the energy needs of the projects, the balance of the electricity generated being sold to the Alberta power grid.
Rotork’s Canadian company secured an exclusive purchase agreement for isolating control valve actuators at the Muskeg River Mine, encompassing a total of 290 IQ range intelligent electric actuators and 102 pneumatic designs. The majority of the actuators are being mounted on Pibiviesse ball valves, Tricentric high performance butterfly valves and DeZurik knife gate valves at Rotork’s workshop facilities in Calgary.
When production starts in late 2002, the mine will produce 155,000 barrels per day of bitumen, extracted from oil sands that are removed from just below the surface and mixed with warm water to separate the oil. Most of the Rotork actuated valves will be used on froth treatment, the final separation process of the bitumen from the oil sands.
At the Scotford Upgrader site, Rotork is supplying 122 IQ electric actuators. At the Atco co-generation plant at Muskeg River, electric and pneumatic actuators are being supplied by Rotork’s companies in Canada and the USA. The pneumatic actuators are equipped with Rotork designed control systems and panels, giving the customer local control and monitoring of the pneumatic actuators. For the entire Athabasca Oil Sands project, the total value of Rotork’s contracts is expected to exceed CAD 3.5 million.