Canadian Oil Sands Cuts 2012 Syncrude Production Estimate

Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (COS), the largest owner of Syncrude Canada Ltd., cut its 2012 synthetic oil production estimate to 301,000 barrels a day because of a maintenance turnaround in the second quarter.

Canadian Oil Sands reduced the single-point 2012 production estimate by 2.7 percent, or 3 million barrels, to 110 million barrels, the Calgary-based company said in a statement.

“The 110 million-barrel Syncrude production outlook incorporates actual first-quarter 2012 production, a planned turnaround of Coker 8-3 during the second quarter of the year, and an allowance for unplanned outages,” Canadian Oil said.

Syncrude production in the first quarter was 295,000 barrels per day, down from 321,000 a year earlier, after the company took Coker 8-1 offline for repairs. The unit returned to service this month, the company said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lynn Doan in San Francisco at ldoan6@bloomberg.net

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