The name should be "Energy Far East Pipeline"

[stonepicker]

Question and answer: mustard, do you farm? I don't think so. Are you an ndp party member who's job it is to spew propaganda and hearsay? I think so. Are you concerned about the facts? Nope. Do you have any friends? Sadly, i don't think so. Do you enjoy life? Sadly, i don't think so. You can't even see the fact that shipping oil east is good for east and western canada. ( more jobs building pipeline and upgrading refineries, cheaper oil in the long run, less carbon footprint, not dependent on imported oil ) Get a life.

[SASKFARMER3]

Plus the Big one Less oil in Rail Tankers. So railways can ship grain and other stuff.
But to a NDP that's not good.

[Oliver88]

One more point that HOPEFULLY our environmentalist/anti-oil friends on Agriville maybe can grasp.

[Guest]

we need the pipeline so we can sell enough oil at a higher price so we can afford to keep sending welfare checks east . sounds like nation building to me ? what am I missing ? although I think it would be more beneficial to the west to just cut the cancerous growth off and carry on with our lives

[DogPatch]

Why don't we just upgrade our current refineries, build another one and process the bit. and sell it as end products. The price of gas at the pumps doesn't follow the price of oil anymore, it follows the price of unleaded and diesel on their markets. Piss on Quebec, lets get her done. Big oil might make a dollar, but it will put people back to work.

[DogPatch]

Why don't we just upgrade our current refineries, build another one and process the bit. and sell it as end products. The price of gas at the pumps doesn't follow the price of oil anymore, it follows the price of unleaded and diesel on their markets. Piss on Quebec, lets get her done. Big oil might make a dollar, but it will put people back to work.

[mustardman]

Yes there would be some bakken crude fed into line .but you've still got mostly high bitumen oil going thru this line.
The spin on this project had been unbelievable.

The Koch brothers have a huge investment in Hardisty plant as well as over a million acres of land around Fort Mac
They are the kings of spin( just look at how they created the tea party) and wreaked havoc on democratic process in US

[Hopalong]

After Lac Megantic, hard to understand Quebec position of opposition to pipeline. Crude coming through urban ares by rail seems much greater risk.
Maybe more about angling for aid to Bombardier.

[foragefarmer]

I'm not an expert at the oil industry, but with the cost of producing a barrel of oil out from the oilsands how can a pipeline save the day for that particular area? I just read that any new project in the oilsands, by the various oil companies, break even points range from $68-96 per barrel. It also trades at a discount of $13.75 a barrel.

I have also read that it costs $41.00 to produce barrel of oil in Canada compared to Saudi Arabia at $9.90.

All that being said it's plain to see why the oil from the Saudi's is coming to Eastern Canada at current world prices. I do agree that in the future when oil prices increase, something seriously should be done to get western Canadian oil to eastern Canada, it benefits all of Canada economically


Stonepicker, not sure why you would post in this matter towards Mustard, there is no benefit to the tread at all. Mustard is entitled to his opinions as is everybody else on here does, its an open forum and we all don't have to agree with what you may think.

[WiltonRanch]

There needs to be more upgrading facilities in Alberta and Saskatchewan. However, cost to build these facilities is phenomenal. When the upgrader in lloydminster was built in the early 90's it was well over a billion which both provinces virtually funded and each province both conservative and ndp sold off back to Husky for pennies on the dollar but the resulting benefit to the economy more than paid for itself. Right now Lloyd crude is worth about $13 out of the ground, it costs $6 to upgrade, some diesel and other petrochemicals come off it, then it's worth about $30 . Not to mention raw sulphur and coke byproducts which are railed out to other industries. This is where bitumen can be value added to a synthetic sweet crude which is higher valued, useable by run of the mill refineries, and creates more domestic employment. A lot of the oil here that is lifted and railed south ends up being refined into bunker fuel for the ships which is low value. Refining is done in gulf as there is excess refining capacity there. Although the low oil price has hurt our local economy it is not at an absolute standstill because the upgrader is still going because their margins are still there. That is what value adding does. We still export but we export a higher valued product.

[stormnorm]

montreal and quebec refinery oil come from reversal of line 9 pipe line,quebec refinery oil is shipped by boat from line 9 in montreal to quebec city.

[wmoebis]

Are we guaranteed that if oil is piped from West to East that it will be cheaper for them than Saudi oil and/or they will stop importing?

[Hamloc]

Eastern Canada prefers to buy Saudi or Algerian oil, many on the left have said this. These countries do not care about GHG emissions nor have they proposed any carbon taxes in these countries. Our western politicians try to tell us a carbon tax and shutting down coal will open markets for our oil. Eastern Canada is still rejecting the pipeline. Am I the only one that can see this reality? If our country did not exist 98% of the C02 would still be produced.

What I found really amusing was a headline in the news, Obama passes the progressive torch to Justin Trudeau. Why is this funny? During Obama's presidency there was over 19000 kilometres of oil pipeline built and the US almost doubled their daily oil production. I guess almost doubling the US debt was the progressive part. Have a good day:-)

[stormnorm]

Multinational Valero Energy has chosen Groupe Desgagnés to carry Alberta crude oil from Valero’s terminal in east-end Montreal to its refinery in Lévis, Que. And officials with the Quebec City-based merchant marine company couldn’t be happier. “This is a big day for us and for the entire Canadian maritime industry,” said Jacques Beauchamp, President and General Manager of PetroNav, a wholly owned subsidiary of Groupe Desgagnés. “I think it’s great that (Valero) went with a Canadian company and people with extensive river experience.” Under the terms of the ten-year deal, announced March 20, Valero and Desgagnés have created a joint venture called Transports Maritimes Saint-Laurent. The new company’s assets already include two used Panamax ships that will be delivered in April. Built in Crotia in 2007, the two 750-foot-long vessels are each capable of carrying 350,000 barrels of oil per voyage. They are expected to begin making the 200-kilometre trip along the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City in October, when the oil pipeline from Western Canada is expected to begin flowing into Valero’s Montreal terminal. The recently-approved move is expected to put an end to Valero’s decades-old dependence on overseas crude, mostly from Algeria, Kazakhstan and Angola, at its Lévis refinery, which is the second largest in Canada. According to Beauchamp, the deal is a happy ending to many months of discussions between Desgagnés and officials at Valero’s Montreal office and the multinational’s headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. Valero, he noted, has long been a customer of DesgaÂgnés, whose fleet of 18 Seaway-size ships regularly carries gasoline, jet fuel and diesel from the Lévis refinery to ports in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. “This all started a few years ago when (Valero) started asking us general questions about how and if we could transport oil along the river from Montreal to Levis,” recalled Beauchamp. “Their big concerns were about safety and reliability.” He noted that DesgaÂgnés ships have safely sailed that same corridor 1,500 times over the past five years. Beauchamp said that when Valero’s questions became more pointed, his company took the initiative of bringing together a working group of its ship captains and creating a thick binder with details on everything from shipping regulations and historical water levels in that section of the river, as well as suggestions as to the best vessels to use for maximum draft and payload. “The Panamax ships,” Beauchamp said the study concluded, “give us the best bang for the buck.” The deal was finalized only days before the official announcement. “Our plan is to be able to completely stop importing crude from the Atlantic basin by the end of this year,” Valero spokesman Michel Martin said. “On an economic basis and on a logistical basis, it’s a huge change.” Beauchamp said that once pipeline oil starts to reach the island of Montreal, the two ships will sail between the terminal and the refinery “like two ferries that leave opposite sides of a river simultaneously.” Until then – and during periods when the terminal or refinery is shut down for maintenance – Desgagnés will use the ships to carry oil in other markets. Beauchamp estimated that 100 new jobs will be created for crew members on the two ships, not to mention the repair and maintenance and other related jobs that the double-piloted ships will generate. “This is something new and exciting for us and the whole industry here,” he said. “We’ve been getting calls from people throughout the maritime industry – even from our competitors – saying how happy they are for us.” - See more at: http://www.canadiansailings.ca/?p=8488#sthash.jbhp1lOR.dpuf

[stormnorm]

Enbridge : Maine Reports Halt Of Crude Shipments On Portland-montreal Line In January


Envoyer par mail



03/08/2016 | 03:02pm US/Eastern


















Maine's embattled Portland-Montreal Pipe Line stopped shipping crude after volumes fell sharply following the reversal of Enbridge's Line 9 line, state data showed Friday.

There was no oil shipped on the line in January, the latest month for which data was available from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Pipeline company spokesman Jim Merrill declined to comment and had previously declined to discuss how the competing Line 9 would impact Portland-Montreal.

First opened in 1941, the Portland-Montreal Pipe Line, or PMPL, delivered light crudes from South Portland to Montreal. It averaged 60,800 b/d in 2015. However, volumes plummeted from 74,250 b/d in November to 19,435 b/d in December before drying up completely in January 2016. In January 2015, the pipeline averaged 104,500 b/d.

Cargoes into Portland have also ceased according to cFlow, Platts trade flow software. There were 30 cargoes into Portland in 2015, all crude oil. There have been none to date in 2016.

It's unclear why volumes stopped or if they will restart, but the cessation coincides with the Dec 3 announcement by Enbridge that the reversed Line 9 had entered service. The 300,000 b/d Line 9 carries light crudes from the Alberta oil sands to refineries in Quebec, the same area the PMPL had served.

There are two major refineries that take in crude from the reversed Line 9 -- Suncor's 137,000 b/d Montreal refinery and Valero's 265,000 b/d Jean-Gaulin refinery near Quebec City -- both of which have rail terminals and access to crude off of the Portland-Montreal pipeline. Both companies previously said that the Line 9 reversal would allow them to run a 100% North-American crude slate.

A Canadian crude trader Friday said Enbridge's Line 9 likely pressured the PMPL but that the market impact of its potential closure wouldn't be felt in Western Canada.

"With Line 9 operational that should take volume away from there, yes," the trader said. "I don't see that it will shift the market much here in Alberta. Too small."

For years, the Portland-Montreal pipeline had been unsuccessfully attempting to reverse the flow of the pipeline, which would have allowed it to carry crude from the Alberta oil sands and export it from Maine. The South Portland City Council in 2014 voted to ban the re-export of Canadian crude through its port when it approved zoning changes to prohibit the bulk loading of crude oil onto marine tank vessels within the city and the Port of Portland, the second-largest port on the US East Coast. Advocates of the pipeline have sued the city over the ordinance and the lawsuit is pending in US district court, according to Maine Public Radio.

Patricia Mohr, a vice president and commodity market specialist with Canadian banking giant Scotiabank, Friday discounted the possibility the Portland-Montreal pipeline could reverse and carry Canadian grades.

"I don't think there has been much consideration of the Portland pipeline," Mohr said at the Platts 5th Annual North American Crude Summit.

With the reversal of Line 9, Suncor can get its own crude from Alberta to fuel its Montreal refinery and that a new coker is being installed at the refinery to handle bitumen, she said.

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