XOil Stands tour. Or, how I spent Friday--Canada Day.
The bus boarded up just past 10am and approximately 30 'tourists' hit the road to learn more about the oil sands. Our tour guide is a 5th generation Fort McMurrian and did a great job.
Apparently there are approximately 76,000 people living in FMMA (Fort McMurray, Alberta) proper and 104,000 in the Wood Buffalo Municipality--the largest municipality in Canada. I'm not entirely sure what a municipality is or what advantages there are to being one but there you are. The municipality takes in the surrounding areas and communities like Fort McKay.
So...off to sonxcore we went...the whole tour is basically a big PR thing for them but I still think there was a lot to learn and even though one of the gentleman at the back of the bus complained that we were only seeing what they wanted us to see (duh!) I think he was wrong. I had my own site tour the other day and saw the same as we saw on the bus tour, more in some areas and less in others...but the whole site is open and it would be hard to 'hide' anything.
According to our tour guide there are about 4,000 employees on site everyday. During a shut down there are about 5,000. You might be wondering why there are more people during a shut down than when it is not shut down...I know I did at first, but being in shutdown doesn't mean what you think. Basically they will shut down one part of the plant or where they have 3 cokers they might shut down one and leave the other two running. Shutdown means they are taking things apart, doing maintenance and cleaning and generally making sure everything runs the way it should be. The company I work for does a lot of work during shut downs...we do the dirty work.
Shifts are usually 8-8 and the rotations vary but you might work 4 days, 4 nights and then have 4 days off. It all varies by company you work for and the job you do. The sites run 24/7/365.
How do you get to site? You drive. The first site out of FMMA is suncorex and it is about a 20-30 minutes drive to the North (they are all to the North). When you get to the site there is a giant parking lot.
So...back to the tour. This is the first sign you see just before you get to the security booth.
And this is where the pictures will end. I am not supposed to post photos on the net of anything I took photos of without written permission of the company. If you want to send me an email at northofnain (at) hotmail(.)com or my personal email account (if you know it) I would be happy to send you the pictures--which I am allowed to do. This is a small town sometimes and I would like to keep my job...so I will follow the rules.
Security isn't as crazy as I had expected and we were on our way after a quick head count. One of the first things you see is a tailings pond. This is where all the stuff goes from the processing. Picture making coffee right from the beans. The beans are the 'earth' that the machines dig up, the coffee filter and hot water are where they separate the oil from the sand and the grounds left over in the filter go into the tailings pond and the coffee itself is the product they produce. It isn't quite right, but it gives you a bit of an idea...and that wasn't my idea....the tour guide told us about the coffee analogy.
On the opposite side of the road is a reclaimed tailings pond that now looks like a field. There are grasses and some dead trees and lots of seedlings....600,000 to be exact. There are lots of pieces of dead trees around--this encourages bugs, spiders and other creepy crawlers. They have planted dead trees some with their roots in the air to encourage the birds to come back and nest. And you might think that they would plant grass but in fact they plant oats and barley I think she said. The oats and barley don't crowd out the saplings and they will have a better success rate with other flowers and plants coming back than if they planted grass
We stopped at the end of the tour at the reclamation spot to view it, read up on it, etc. It is too bad that it is inside a secure area because it would be nice to come and visit on a regular basis. Oh well.
If you see photos of the O&G sites you may see places where the pipes are bent into U's and wonder why...it is for the expansion and contraction of the pipes and product during the cold/hot temperatures. The entire site is about 4,000 square kilometres.
As we toured the site they try to take us from the beginning to end in the proper route...ie, how it actually happens. That means the first part of the tour was actually started at the mine. It is an above ground mine and yes, that's where the big boys are. I would give up my cats to be able to drive one of these machines. They are sooo cool.
797B truck
Here's the wiki link if you want the details.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar_797B
The tires are 12 feet tall and weigh about 3 tons each. They cost about $60,000-$70,000 each--that's per tire. The entire truck without the tires is worth about $6.5Million. The buckets on the back are around 6X5 metres and hold 2-3 shovel fulls of tar sands. The trucks are about the equivalent of driving a 2-storey house. Imagine that?
Here's a video of one backing up that I found on line. It isn't as exciting as one driving down the road but if you look at it and see the truck in front you get an idea of size..including watching the guy help them back up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-qjrQ36WbA
Oh, and here's a couple pics...
I took the top one...but not from the site I wasn't allowed to take pictures from. This is a highway drive by photo.
Ok...so the tour is interesting and you get to see what 'site' is...because in FMMA everyone talks about site. Here's a funny video about dating...and the people who work at site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_pH-rDy1Dc&feature=related
There are a ton of these videos about 'Steve' that have been made. I find them all funny--and apparently they all have a ring of truth in them if you stay here long enough.
At the end of the site tour we headed out to Crane Lake. It's another little PR place but still worthy of a stop. I will be headed back here on my own at some point. There is a little 2km walk around a pond and apparently it is a great place to go and view a number of different species of birds--including sand cranes. Go figure.
Site is this amazing place where thousands of people are working and interacting while wearing almost identical suits. The whole thing looks like a big futuristic place with pipes running in all directions and steam, smoke and fire coming out of hundreds of places. It has a distinct smell to it and I can't wait to spend more time at 'site'.
The tour ended at 2pm back at the XOil Stands Discovery Centre which the entrance to is included in the tour...along with entrance to a heritage park down the road which I haven't been to yet but hope to see soon. And that...is how I spent Canada Day!
The bus boarded up just past 10am and approximately 30 'tourists' hit the road to learn more about the oil sands. Our tour guide is a 5th generation Fort McMurrian and did a great job.
Apparently there are approximately 76,000 people living in FMMA (Fort McMurray, Alberta) proper and 104,000 in the Wood Buffalo Municipality--the largest municipality in Canada. I'm not entirely sure what a municipality is or what advantages there are to being one but there you are. The municipality takes in the surrounding areas and communities like Fort McKay.
So...off to sonxcore we went...the whole tour is basically a big PR thing for them but I still think there was a lot to learn and even though one of the gentleman at the back of the bus complained that we were only seeing what they wanted us to see (duh!) I think he was wrong. I had my own site tour the other day and saw the same as we saw on the bus tour, more in some areas and less in others...but the whole site is open and it would be hard to 'hide' anything.
According to our tour guide there are about 4,000 employees on site everyday. During a shut down there are about 5,000. You might be wondering why there are more people during a shut down than when it is not shut down...I know I did at first, but being in shutdown doesn't mean what you think. Basically they will shut down one part of the plant or where they have 3 cokers they might shut down one and leave the other two running. Shutdown means they are taking things apart, doing maintenance and cleaning and generally making sure everything runs the way it should be. The company I work for does a lot of work during shut downs...we do the dirty work.
Shifts are usually 8-8 and the rotations vary but you might work 4 days, 4 nights and then have 4 days off. It all varies by company you work for and the job you do. The sites run 24/7/365.
How do you get to site? You drive. The first site out of FMMA is suncorex and it is about a 20-30 minutes drive to the North (they are all to the North). When you get to the site there is a giant parking lot.
This is not...how most people get to site. This is....
The bus. There seem to be hundreds of these that run the highway to all the sites from everywhere in FMMA. I'm not entirely sure what time you need to catch the bus to get work on time but I gather it is early....like an hour or more ahead of time. But I must say the buses are comfy and cozy and I understand that a lot of people will catch a bit more sleep when they are headed to site. But don't fall asleep close to site or you might miss your stop. I would guess that the big O&G companies pay for the buses to site...but I'm not entirely sure. What I do know is that I think they are a great idea. Much more environmentally friendly than 4,000 people taking their own vehicles out and I can only imagine how much traffic there would be compared to the amount on the roads now. Crazy! I know our staff working farther out in Fort McKay (FMKA) take a company van out and back. One employee drives it and picks up everyone else. It is a safer, economical and yep, better for the environment.
So...back to the tour. This is the first sign you see just before you get to the security booth.
And this is where the pictures will end. I am not supposed to post photos on the net of anything I took photos of without written permission of the company. If you want to send me an email at northofnain (at) hotmail(.)com or my personal email account (if you know it) I would be happy to send you the pictures--which I am allowed to do. This is a small town sometimes and I would like to keep my job...so I will follow the rules.
Security isn't as crazy as I had expected and we were on our way after a quick head count. One of the first things you see is a tailings pond. This is where all the stuff goes from the processing. Picture making coffee right from the beans. The beans are the 'earth' that the machines dig up, the coffee filter and hot water are where they separate the oil from the sand and the grounds left over in the filter go into the tailings pond and the coffee itself is the product they produce. It isn't quite right, but it gives you a bit of an idea...and that wasn't my idea....the tour guide told us about the coffee analogy.
On the opposite side of the road is a reclaimed tailings pond that now looks like a field. There are grasses and some dead trees and lots of seedlings....600,000 to be exact. There are lots of pieces of dead trees around--this encourages bugs, spiders and other creepy crawlers. They have planted dead trees some with their roots in the air to encourage the birds to come back and nest. And you might think that they would plant grass but in fact they plant oats and barley I think she said. The oats and barley don't crowd out the saplings and they will have a better success rate with other flowers and plants coming back than if they planted grass
We stopped at the end of the tour at the reclamation spot to view it, read up on it, etc. It is too bad that it is inside a secure area because it would be nice to come and visit on a regular basis. Oh well.
If you see photos of the O&G sites you may see places where the pipes are bent into U's and wonder why...it is for the expansion and contraction of the pipes and product during the cold/hot temperatures. The entire site is about 4,000 square kilometres.
As we toured the site they try to take us from the beginning to end in the proper route...ie, how it actually happens. That means the first part of the tour was actually started at the mine. It is an above ground mine and yes, that's where the big boys are. I would give up my cats to be able to drive one of these machines. They are sooo cool.
797B truck
Here's the wiki link if you want the details.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar_797B
The tires are 12 feet tall and weigh about 3 tons each. They cost about $60,000-$70,000 each--that's per tire. The entire truck without the tires is worth about $6.5Million. The buckets on the back are around 6X5 metres and hold 2-3 shovel fulls of tar sands. The trucks are about the equivalent of driving a 2-storey house. Imagine that?
Here's a video of one backing up that I found on line. It isn't as exciting as one driving down the road but if you look at it and see the truck in front you get an idea of size..including watching the guy help them back up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-qjrQ36WbA
Oh, and here's a couple pics...
I took the top one...but not from the site I wasn't allowed to take pictures from. This is a highway drive by photo.
Ok...so the tour is interesting and you get to see what 'site' is...because in FMMA everyone talks about site. Here's a funny video about dating...and the people who work at site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_pH-rDy1Dc&feature=related
There are a ton of these videos about 'Steve' that have been made. I find them all funny--and apparently they all have a ring of truth in them if you stay here long enough.
At the end of the site tour we headed out to Crane Lake. It's another little PR place but still worthy of a stop. I will be headed back here on my own at some point. There is a little 2km walk around a pond and apparently it is a great place to go and view a number of different species of birds--including sand cranes. Go figure.
Site is this amazing place where thousands of people are working and interacting while wearing almost identical suits. The whole thing looks like a big futuristic place with pipes running in all directions and steam, smoke and fire coming out of hundreds of places. It has a distinct smell to it and I can't wait to spend more time at 'site'.
The tour ended at 2pm back at the XOil Stands Discovery Centre which the entrance to is included in the tour...along with entrance to a heritage park down the road which I haven't been to yet but hope to see soon. And that...is how I spent Canada Day!
4 comments:
Jennifer:
I enjoyed the tour. I understand the security issue too so thanks for the pictures you were able to post.
Sounds like you are so enjoying the job and the move. I'm so happy for you.
Here on PEI you are missing the "Royals". Your friend Jan has some involvement with the tour so you may want to touch base with her.
Happy, week after Canada Day!
Edith
Hi Jennifer,
Wow, thanks so much for posting all those lovely photos of the tour, many thanks for doing so! I agree with Edith, I am so happy you are enjoying your new job. Love the crane pic, would love to visit there, but don't ever think about giving up your cats to drive that huge truck, LOL. Have a great week!
Jack
Jennifer:
PS- I watched the 'site' vids on youtube, what a riot!!
Jack
Hi Jennifer,
You're a great tour guide - thanks! It's so nice to hear you are enjoying the job and people there. Those trucks are hugh - I think it would be fun to try to drive one - although I wouldn't give up pets to do it! Maybe some day they'll let you in the cab for at least a picture!!
Pictures are great to go with the tour, the blue bug is quite interesting, whatever he/she/it is!
Sounds like you had a great Canada Day, I hope the others on the tour were a good bunch to spend a day with. I assume the tour is something a lot of "newbies" in Fort McMurray do to get a lay of the land (sites).
Lori B.
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