Progress report--Athabasca tar sands

A complex now under construction by Great Canadian Oil Sands (GCOS) will produce 45,000 bbl per day of crude when it goes on stream in Sept. 1967. GCOS became the first company to receive permission to produce the giant Athabasca deposit in 1962. They also obtained a permit to construct a 266-mile long pipeline to Edmonton, where it tied into the Interprovincial Pipeline system. Following an economic and engineering feasibility study in 1963, GCOS with Sun Oil Ltd. began a $230 million project. Facilities at this plant include an electric generating plant, tank farm, high- speed sand excavating and conveying system, hot water separation plant, hydrogenation unit, coker, desulfurizers, and sulfur recovery plant. At the end of April, 1966, about 45% of the project was completed.