Rapid expansion of the oil sands industry in Alberta has guaranteed a large production of heavy oil fractions in the near future. Alberta's petrochemical industry is presently ethane-based. The supply of ethane in Alberta is declining and that places some doubt on potential growth of the petrochemical industry. The growing production of oil from oil sands and accompanying heavy oil fraction breathes hope for growth in the petrochemical industry, provided that these heavy oils can be transformed into feed to petrochemical plants. It will however entail having large complexes where oil sand/upgrading, refining and petrochemical units are integrated. Three industry studies have evaluated different technologies and process schemes for integrating oil sands, refining and petrochemical operations. The common feature and result of the studies is that the higher the degree of processing, the higher the capital costs but also the higher the return on investment. This paper presents some process configuration and studies undertaken, which prove that it is feasible to produce petrochemical feedstock or petrochemicals from vacuum gas oils at competitive prices.

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