Oil Sands Chemical Supplier Serving Fort McMurray, Fort McKay and the Athabasca Region
Four Guardian people support Fort McMurray sites, and two of them live there.
Since 1960 | 220+ Products | 4,000+ Clients | ISO 9001, 14001, 45001 | COR (AB)
BrightShield process cleaning, heavy equipment degreasers and water treatment, from a supplier that has worked the oil sands since the first plants started up.
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People who know the sites, and supply that keeps arriving
Guardian has supplied oil sands operations since the first plants started up. Two of our people live and work in the Fort McMurray area and drive Guardian-branded trucks. They hold site access and vehicle approvals for most oil facilities in the region, so they can get to your unit when you need them. Our technical specialist, a former major-supplier field specialist with more than a decade on oil sands sites, works from our Sturgeon County office and is regularly up north supporting customers and field staff. A Guardian water treatment representative also serves the region.
Guardian has product approvals in place at all major oil sands sites. When a product you need is not yet on your site’s approved list, we work with your site EHS team to get it reviewed and added.
Supply matters as much as chemistry this far north. One SAGD facility in the Fort McMurray region has run its produced water cooler cleaning program on Guardian chemistry since 2017 with no late or missed deliveries, through the pandemic, the 2021 to 2023 supply chain crisis, wildfires and tariff disruptions.
Local people with site access
Two staff based in the region, with site and vehicle approvals for most facilities, backed by a former major-supplier field specialist.
Blended in Alberta
Canadian-owned. Product is made at our Sturgeon County plant and shipped north.
Approved at all major sites
Product approvals at every major oil sands site, and help from us to add new products through your EHS team.
What Happens When You Request a Recommendation
A Guardian industrial cleaning specialist will contact you to understand your application, your deposit, and your cleaning challenges.
Our team will review your deposit, surface, and operating conditions — and if needed, our lab will test your soil to identify the most effective chemistry.
We’ll provide a product recommendation, application guidance, and a quote — with no obligation to proceed.
If the solution makes sense for your operation, we’ll arrange supply, provide application training, and support you from day one.
Oil sands fouling is a mix, and the chemistry has to match it
Oil sands deposits combine bitumen, fine solids, clay and scale, and the mix changes between a mine wash bay and a SAGD produced water system. Heat exchangers and produced water coolers foul until flow drops. Oil removal filter media gets coated. Storage tanks collect sludge carrying H2S and iron sulphides. Haul trucks come back from the pit caked, and at -40 the product still has to work.
Cold matters for handling too. Water-based products can freeze in unheated storage, so ask us for the freeze point and store and dilute accordingly. Solvent products need their flash point respected in heated buildings.
One off-the-shelf cleaner rarely handles all of that. Guardian’s BrightShield Process starts with the deposit and the equipment and builds the cleaning program around them.
The BrightShield Process
BrightShield is Guardian’s engineered chemical cleaning program for process equipment. Every job follows the same six steps:
- Insight Audit. We survey the system and the people who run it, learn its history, agree on objectives and set the KPIs the clean will be judged against.
- Foulant Fingerprint Analysis. Our lab identifies what the deposit is made of and how severe it is.
- Precision Chemistry Selection. We bench-test candidate chemistries against your deposit, alongside a blank and your current program, and set the application method: online or offline, circulation or soak, temperature, flow, and materials compatibility.
- Program Proposal. You get a written program built from those results.
- Implementation and Assurance. Guardian supports the job on site with live monitoring, working with your crew or your preferred application contractor.
- Validation Report. After the clean, we report results against the KPIs agreed in the audit.
Published results from Alberta oil sands and heavy oil facilities:
- Heat exchangers: two fouled exchangers back in service in under 24 hours without mechanical lancing, with flow up 150% on one unit and 400% on the other.
- CSS exchanger, Cold Lake: flow raised from under 20 m³/h with the valve fully open to 50 m³/h at half open, using 50 L of product and no shutdown.
- Produced water coolers: chemical use per cleaning cut by more than half and cleaning frequency nearly halved, then a further 13.4% cost reduction after moving to a two-product program.
- Oil removal filters: walnut shell media cleaned without caustic, avoiding the pH damage the previous program caused.
- Tank cleaning: more than 700 m³ of sludge removed, H2S eliminated and mercaptans cut 77%, with solids kept suspended for compliant disposal.
For the full range of cleaners and degreasers, see our industrial degreaser supplier page.
Oil Sands Chemistry We Supply
Guardian supports mining and in-situ operations across the Athabasca region, along with the contractors, camps and service companies that keep them running.
Haul Truck and Wash Bay Degreasing
Haul Truck and Wash Bay Degreasing
Exchanger and PWC Cleaning
Exchanger and PWC Cleaning
Oil Sands Mining
Oil Sands Mining
Tank and Vessel Cleaning
Shutdown and Turnaround
Shutdown and Turnaround
Water Treatment for Sites and Camps
Water Treatment for Sites and Camps
Chemistry is half of it. The other half is who picks up the phone.
Guardian has manufactured specialty chemicals since 1960. The formulation lab and blending floor are at our plant in Sturgeon County, and the people who support Fort McMurray sites either live in the region or travel there regularly. When something is not working the way it should, you call someone who has seen the unit.
Custom Formulations
We don’t force-fit products from a catalog. Our R&D lab analyzes your deposit and formulates the right chemistry for your exact application—deposit, surface, temperature, and operating conditions.
Technical Support
Product selection is just the start. We provide deposit analysis, dilution guidance, field trials, application training, and ongoing program optimization. We’re there when you need us.
Safety-Forward Chemistry
High flash points (>95°C), ultra-low VOC, and VOC-free formulations, with less fire risk and solvent vapour than conventional solvents. Our chemistry meets or exceeds Canada’s VOC legislation.
Proven in the Field
65+ years serving oil sands, mining, manufacturing, transportation, and heavy industry. 4,000+ clients across North America trust Guardian.
Featured Cleaners and Degreasers
What Customers Say About Guardian’s Cleaning & Degreasing Solutions
“Guardian Chemicals is a trusted vendor. Responsive, helpful and providing great customer support, they are an important part of our team. Their products work as-advertised and are competitively priced.”
“Have dealt with Guardian many times over the years and they have always come through with great products and great solutions. Highly recommend!”
"We brought...Guardian Chemicals into our business to offer options to simplify our truck washing soap product line. [They] provided a single cost effective product that spans all of our various site needs and has been user accepted."
Oil Sands Case Studies
Where we serve in northeastern Alberta
Guardian serves Fort McMurray, Fort McKay and the Athabasca oil sands region, including the mine and in-situ sites along the Highway 63 corridor, with staff based in the region and product shipped from our Sturgeon County plant.
Guardian Chemicals Inc.
Head office and plant: #155 55202 SH825, Sturgeon Industrial Park, Sturgeon County, AB T8L 5C1
Phone: (780) 998-3771 Toll free: (800) 661-6544
Email: info@guardianchem.com
For heat exchangers, produced water coolers, tanks and vessels, see the BrightShield chemical cleaning program. Other Guardian industrial service areas: Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto and the GTA and Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.
Tell us what you are cleaning.
Describe the equipment, the deposit and the site, and a Guardian specialist who knows oil sands service will follow up. Prefer to talk? Call (780) 998-3771 or (800) 661-6544, or email info@guardianchem.com.
Frequently Asked Questions: Oil Sands Chemicals in Fort McMurray
Yes. Two Guardian staff live and work in the Fort McMurray area, drive Guardian-branded trucks and hold site access and vehicle approvals for most oil facilities in the region. A former major-supplier field specialist and a water treatment representative from our Sturgeon County office also support sites regularly.
BrightShield is Guardian’s engineered chemical cleaning program for heat exchangers, produced water coolers, filters, vessels and tanks. It runs in six steps: an Insight Audit of the system, a Foulant Fingerprint Analysis of the deposit, bench-tested chemistry selection, a written program proposal, on-site implementation with live monitoring, and a validation report against the KPIs set at the start.
It is the first step of a BrightShield job. A Guardian account manager reviews the system, its history and your objectives, and agrees the KPIs the cleaning program will be measured against. Audit guides exist for exchanger fouling, oil removal and after filters, amine systems, H2S scavenging and wash bays.
Yes. Guardian has product approvals in place at all major oil sands sites. If a product you need is not on your site’s approved list yet, we work with your site EHS team to have it reviewed and added.
Often, yes. In one published BrightShield job, two fouled exchangers were back in service in under 24 hours without lancing, with flow up 150% and 400%.
One SAGD facility in the region has had no late or missed Guardian deliveries since it switched to Guardian in 2017, through the pandemic, the 2021 to 2023 supply chain crisis, wildfires and tariffs.
TerraSol ULV, a low-VOC solvent degreaser, removed oil sands, heavy oil and coke deposits from haul trucks at a Fort McMurray wash bay in one application. Breakaway VF, a VOC-free hybrid degreaser, is another option for bitumen carrying sand. We recommend against your actual deposit.
Stocked items ship within three working days of order acceptance, and items we blend to order need a minimum of six working days, plus transit north. If your need is urgent, call the order desk at (780) 998-3771 and we will confirm a date before committing. Hotshot delivery can often be arranged for an additional charge on product that is ready to ship.
Freight to Fort McMurray is quoted with your order. If your agreement has its own freight terms, those apply.
Yes. A Guardian water treatment representative serves customers in the region. Detailed municipal water chemistry is not published for Fort McMurray, so we test the water in your system before recommending a program.
Water-based products can freeze in unheated storage at Fort McMurray temperatures. Ask us for the freeze point of each product, keep it in heated storage where needed, and follow the dilution guidance on the product data sheet.
Call (780) 998-3771 or send the form on this page. One of our Fort McMurray people, or the technical specialist who covers oil sands process work, will get back to you within one business day.
Talk to someone who knows the sites.
Tell us about the unit or the deposit and we will put the right people on it, or call the order desk at (780) 998-3771.
