Shell plans spring turnaround at Alberta oil sands upgrader

(Adds details of last major turnaround, synthetic crude price)

By Nia Williams

CALGARY, Alberta, March 25 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc (Xetra: R6C1.DE - news) will carry out a planned turnaround at its 255,000 barrel per day Scotford oil sands upgrader in northern Alberta during spring this year, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) spokesman Cameron Yost said the turnaround was an activity that took place every four to five years.

"We do have a turnaround this year. It's not small-scale maintenance," Yost said, although he declined to give details of how much production would go offline or how long the maintenance would last.

The last major maintenance turnaround at Scotford started in March 2010 and lasted into the second quarter.

Upgraders convert mined bitumen, in this case from Shell's Albian Sands operations, into refinery-ready synthetic crude.

Suncor Energy Inc (Toronto: SU.TO - news) and the Syncrude Canada project will also carry out upgrader maintenance in the second quarter of 2015.

Light (Other OTC: LGSXY - news) synthetic crude from the oil sand for April delivery did not trade on Wednesday, as the Canadian crude market is outside the nearly three-week-long trading "window" in which the bulk of activity takes place.

However, the bid-offer spread was $1.00-$2.00 per barrel above the West Texas Intermediate benchmark, having settled at $1.50 per barrel above WTI on Tuesday, according to Shorcan Energy Brokers Inc. (Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Chris Reese and Andre Grenon)