Opportunities for Sonepar Canada in the Oil Boom in Western Canada

The oil in the form of bitumen
For over a hundred years it has been known that large oil deposits exist in Northern Alberta, the fourth largest province in Canada. The oil in these deposits is in the form of bitumen, a heavy tar like substance, which combines with the local sandy soil to form the Athabasca Tar Sands. This is an area of over 140,000 sq km, about five times the size of Belgium, and is centered around Fort McMurray, a town 400 miles NE of Edmonton.

500,000 barrels of oil per day
Only in recent years has the full potential of this reserve been realized. In the mid 1960’s, the first commercial mine operated by Suncor company was developed to excavate and process the tar sands. In 1978 a second mine was built by Syncrude company and since that time oil has been commercially produced. Today, Syncrude and Suncor produce about 500,000 barrels of oil per day.

To 10 million barrels per day
It is now widely recognized that the Athabasca Tar Sands is the second largest reserve of recoverable oil in the world and has become the center for investment by many of the world’s oil companies. It is anticipated that over $90 billion will be invested in this area by 2020 to support projected production of 10 million barrels per day.

Sonepar Canada, significant investments in this area
Over the years Sonepar Canada has made significant investments in this part of the country and has created strong relationships with the leaders in this industry. In Edmonton and Fort McMurray, Gescan, a Sonepar Canada subsidiary, has held a supply agreement for electrical products for Syncrude for the past five years, and Texcan, an other Sonepar Canada subsidiary, in Edmonton recently signed a multi-year agreement for the supply of wire and cable to Suncor. “To meet our service objectives in this industry, we recently moved Gescan into a state of the art facility in Edmonton and we are planning to double the size of the Texcan operation in Edmonton in the next 12 months.” said Keith Moss, Vice-President – Central and Western Canada.