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UER Mobile > Canada: Other > Abandoned? Oil refinery in Sask. (photo heavy) (Viewed 8290 times)

post by FoMoCo

Abandoned? Oil refinery in Sask. (photo heavy)
< on 4/14/2017 12:50 AM >

Found this place by accident one day, and thought "hmmm that looks uninhabited..." I returned that weekend (this time with my gear) and was surprised at what I found. The out buildings were all abandoned, but the main building on the property still had power to it. Something that I've only seen in person at 2 other locations. This building didn't look like anyone had been inside it for a least a year. The roof was leaking and insulation was decaying and falling from the ceiling, black mold and pigeons were taking over, and the refinement equipment was mostly decommissioned. Hydro and gas was also disconnected. However it was still hard to tell if it was truly abandoned, Google street view suggests it closed between 2009 and 2013. Other than that I won't be saying much about this place.

As usual I have a ton of pics.
Explored in march 2017.
Enjoy the photos!

PHOTOSPHERE 1 LINK:
http://sphereshare...58f8f2fa015d8fee9f
This photosphere was taken in the compound.

PHOTOSPHERE 2 LINK:
http://sphereshare...c431e83eed116ccd44
This photosphere was taken inside the main structure.

1.

Shot from the roof of the main structure.

2.

Small out building with the gas flare (as seen in the top left of photo 1.)

3.

Inside.

4.

Another out building connected to the gas flare.

5.

Storage tanks.

6.

Storage tanks.

7.

Storage tanks.

8.

Inside the tank.

10.

11.

12.

Inside the top of the "tower" portion of the building.

13.

Stairway down, 6 floors to the bottom.

14.

Pigeons are taking over the place.

15.

16.

Places like this are why industry in my favorite subject to photograph.

17.

Ground level, with a few lights on!

18.

Main floor.

19.

Equipment.

20.

21.

Gauges.

22.

Ice building up from the leaking roof.

23.

Pressure tank.

24.

Pigeon shit.

25.

My favorite shot from that day.

26.

Control room, unfortunately no way to get into it

.

27.

Insulation falling from the ceiling.

28.

The room to the right had a heavy black mold infestation.

29.

Rusting parts room.

30.

31.

Boiler room in the loft.

32.

Washroom.

33.

34.

Employee's locker room with a retro fridge in the background (my light painting got in the shot)

35.

Retro fridge.

36.

Boiler room.

37.

Frost inside the boiler.

38.

Looking down from the loft.

39.

I went back the much more interesting room and climbed the tower thing as seen in photo 19.

40.

41.

The boxes look new, but they have about a quarter inch of pigeon shit on top of them.

42.

Ladders up the tower.

43.

Last photo I took before I left.

It's always great when you're the first explorer in a building before it gets vandalized. Overall a great find and a fun weekend explore, it looked miserable and cold out, but it was above 0C at least with no wind, nice by Canadian standards.

[last edit 4/14/2017 1:59 AM by FoMoCo - edited 1 times]

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post by SaladKing

Re: Abandoned? Oil refinery in Sask. (photo heavy)
<Reply # 1 on 4/14/2017 1:50 AM >

Great shots, and good job getting in before anyone had a chance to ruin it.

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post by Peptic Ulcer

Re: Abandoned? Oil refinery in Sask. (photo heavy)
<Reply # 2 on 4/14/2017 2:25 AM >

It's so different than here in Texas! Firstly, the equipment is all indoors! Next, the equipment looks like it's designed to just clean up the crude and not "refine" it. Tar Sands are a bitch to transport so knocking out as much "crud" is critical.

Glad you got to see it. Check out the "South Forum" for a comparison of the different refining techniques.

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post by FoMoCo

Re: Abandoned? Oil refinery in Sask. (photo heavy)
<Reply # 3 on 4/14/2017 3:33 AM >

Well this area of the prairies easily sees -40...so most of the process has to be heated.

This place also produced environmentally friendly lubrication oil from grain products, as well as recycling of used oil...I don't think they produced the typical petroleum products for vehicles.

From what I read, this place was pretty state of the art.

[last edit 4/14/2017 3:39 AM by FoMoCo - edited 1 times]

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post by AK

Re: Abandoned? Oil refinery in Sask. (photo heavy)
<Reply # 4 on 5/29/2017 2:38 AM >

My oh my.. you are one lucky SOB. Very neat stuff!

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post by nicknolte

Re: Abandoned? Oil refinery in Sask. (photo heavy)
<Reply # 5 on 7/3/2017 6:28 AM >

Really cool find. I'm surprised that they left that many parts behind to rust

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post by FCP

Re: Abandoned? Oil refinery in Sask. (photo heavy)
<Reply # 6 on 4/20/2018 11:23 PM >

theres been a few people in there before you. very cool place indeed. It was supposed to be a state of the art facility, but they never did get the plant finished and running. they went bankrupt before finishing it.

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post by GearheadExplorer85

Re: Abandoned? Oil refinery in Sask. (photo heavy)
<Reply # 7 on 5/5/2018 3:11 AM >

Awesome find and great pictures too!

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post by S&J Explore

Re: Abandoned? Oil refinery in Sask. (photo heavy)
<Reply # 8 on 5/5/2018 2:13 PM >

What a great find! It's great you got to see it before vandals did. I'm sure the control room would have been amazing, to bad you couldn't get in.

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post by Lola AB

Re: Abandoned? Oil refinery in Sask. (photo heavy)
<Reply # 9 on 5/8/2018 12:35 AM >

Looks amazing!!

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post by Dan Lee

Re: Abandoned? Oil refinery in Sask. (photo heavy)
<Reply # 10 on 5/8/2018 5:03 AM >

Wow, absolutely incredible find! That place is amazing.

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