Capital Program

Growth/Major project capital expenditures decreased slightly in 2005. Spending on the Stage 3 expansion, which will increase the output capacity of Syncrude’s upgrading facilities at Mildred Lake by almost 50 per cent, represented the majority of major project capital expenditures in 2005.

Other major projects in 2005 included the South West Quadrant Mine Replacement project. This project, now completed, replaces bitumen production from the base mine at Mildred Lake and provides additional feed for Syncrude’s expanded upgrader through new mining trains in the Mildred Lake North and Aurora mines. The new North Mine Auxiliary Production System was commissioned in May 2005, and a third mining train at Aurora finished construction and began start-up in December 2005.

Development engineering work continued on the Syncrude Emissions Reduction project, which reached 14 per cent completion of engineering design at year-end. This project will reduce total emissions of sulphur dioxide by 60 per cent and particulate emissions by 50 per cent from current levels, and is targeted for completion and start-up in 2009.

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Actions taken by Syncrude in response to stakeholder concerns raised during our stakeholder engagement processes are noted throughout this report; these actions are indicated by the symbol.