Imperial Oil Chairman, President & CEO Rich Kruger during the company's annual general meeting in Calgary, Alberta on Thursday, April 24, 2014.Larry MacDougal/The Canadian Press
Imperial Oil Ltd. said late Monday it shut down operations at its Kearl oil sands mine due to a mechanical issue.
Imperial, which is majority owned by Exxon Mobil Corp, said on its web site it shut Kearl as a precautionary measure due to "early detection of a vibration issue" with the plant's ore-crusher unit.
A spokesman for Imperial said repair work could take "several weeks."
"Because the crusher system is integral to providing bitumen ore to the separation process, no ore is being processed and no bitumen produced while this work continues," Pius Rolheiser said in an email. "This work -- early maintenance and repair to prevent longer-term issues -- will have a near-term impact on Kearl production, but we believe it is the best approach to ensuring the safety and long-term integrity of the operation. Third-party customer supply contracts will continue to be met using existing inventory and by purchasing additional crude."
Kearl, located about 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, has yet to run at its 110,000-barrel-per-day design rate more than 18 months after project start-up.
The joint venture between Imperial and Exxon began pumping crude in April 2013. Average production in the third quarter this year was 92,000 b/d, excluding the impact of a planned 14-day turnaround.