Towering Challenge

NFPA Journal, Nov/Dec 2004 by Clayton, Gordon

Suncor's oil sands operation in Fort McMurray, Alberta, prepares for unprecedented growth with a decade of investment in fire prevention technology.

ALL EYES ARE ON NORTHWESTERN CANADA as the oil industry's next production frontier. The region's oil sands naturally occurring mixtures of bitumen, water, sand, and clay that are found mainly in Alberta.

A sample might contain about 12 percent bitumen by weight. Bitumen is a thick, sticky form of crude oil. At room temperature, it is like cold molasses. It must be heated before it will flow from a well or through a pipeline. Reserves are more plentiful than those in Kuwait or Iraq and second only to Saudi Arabia. But the oil sands crude is difficult to extract, with production costs as high as $11 to $14 Canadian per barrel more than those of conventional crude, and profit margins can vary. In this environment, there's little tolerance for lost production time or product and a fire can lead to both.

Near Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, Suncor Energy Inc. recovers bitumen-a dense, heavy oil-from oil sand and upgrades it to refinery-ready feedstock (the raw crude oil fed to refineries for processing into transportation fuels and lubricants) and diesel fuel. Suncor, an integrated energy company, pioneered the world's first commercially successful oil sands operation in 1967. Today, with total production nearing the one billion barrel mark and enough reserves to sustain production for the next 50 years, the company remains a leader in oil sands development.

In 2001, Suncor expanded its mining and upgrading facilities to a production rate of 225,000 barrels of oil per day, and construction is underway for the next phase of growth, which is expected to deliver production capacity of 260,000 barrels per day in 2005. The ultimate goal is the production of up to 550,000 barrels per day between 2010 to 2012.

The Wild, Wild Northwest

Maintaining production and preventing fires at the Suncor oil sands facility is challenging due to the nature of the mining and refining processes, the size and complexity of the facility, and the region's climate.

Suncor's main plant site sits on a footprint of roughly 2 square miles (5 square kilometers), but the central fire alarm system extends across a 15-mile span (24 kilometers) to ore preparation plants, extraction plants, bitumen upgraders, maintenance shops, offices, warehouses, and tailings pond barges. The operation encompasses more than 500 square miles (1,295 square kilometers) of terrain.

The climate also pushes technology and metallurgy to its limits, with temperatures that can vary from -50°F (-45°C) to 110°F (43°C) from season to season, and as much as 60 degrees in a 24-hour period.

The major fire hazards associated with processing of oil sands into refinery feedstocks and transportation fuels include those normally found in the oil- and gasrefining industry, including hydrocarbon spill and pressure fires, storage tank fires, vapor cloud explosions, flammable gas fires, runaway exothermic reactions, and coke and sulphur fires. In addition, Suncor must address the fire potential of natural gas- and coke-fired electricity/steam generating plants; a large fleet of mining equipment; ore-processing and oil-extraction plants; multi-story office buildings; fleets of tank trucks carrying combustible and hazardous commodities; and the wildlands and boreal forests that surround the facility.

The rapid growth of the oil sands industry and the resulting construction require Suncor to closely evaluate new and accepted practices that address life safety issues in an industrial environment. Suncor must also integrate into its plant design features and systems that minimize the possibility of fires and explosions and the damage that results when they do occur.

Furthermore, Suncor is bound by Canadian national and provincial fire and building codes that reference more than 20 NFPA codes and standards, including NFPA 11, Low-, Medium-, and High-Expansion Foam Systems; NFPA 13, Installation of Sprinkler Systems; NFPA 72®, National Fire Alarm Code®; NFPA 750, Water Mist Fire Protection Systems', and NFPA 2001, Clean Agent Fire Extinguishing Systems.

Many of Suncor's corporate and Emergency Services Department standards also refer to NFPA standards, including NFPA 472, Professional Competence of Responders to Hazardous Materials Incidents; NFPA 1001, Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications; NFPA 1002, Fire Department Vehicle Driver/Operator Professional Qualifications; and NFPA 1021, Fire Officer Professional Qualifications.

Investing in an Expandable Central System

Like many oil-mining operations, Suncor's oil sands business has struggled against fire, particularly in the facility's early days. In the fall of 1987, a major fire that shut down the extraction facility and affected production for weeks triggered a site-wide review of fire protection systems, from fire trucks to sprinkler systems to the central alarm system.

In particular, the central alarm system was found to need vast improvements. As it then stood, the central fire alarm panel supplied minimal information and no electronic archiving. Maintenance costs were rising, in part because system isolations were time-consuming and difficult.