Arctic oilsands pipeline possibility

Should Canada start shipping oil from its Alberta tar sands north to an Arctic port?

A new report from Arctic petroleum consultants Canatec Associates International Ltd. cites delays over the controversial Keystone XL pipeline as well as alternative pipeline routes through mountainous British Columbia as among the reasons why such a plan could work.

The proposed line would connect Fort McMurray with Tuktoyatuk, in the Northwest Territories, and ship as much as 35 million bbls of bitumen to both Atlantic and Pacific destinations.

One of the biggest barriers for the so-called Arctic Gateway plan has long been the logistics of moving the oil to a port along the iceburg-laden waters of the Beaufort Sea.

But a technical report commissioned by the Alberta government last year, which has just been released, suggests a few novel ideas on how to transport the bitumen.

The report proposes three potential options, all of which the report deems technically feasible. A pilot project using small test shipments could be started as early as next year, it said.

At its most ambitious, a northern pipeline project could make 35 million bbls/yr of diluted bitumen available for trans-ocean export. Northern Gateway, by comparison, proposes to ship 190 million bbls/yr.

The most basic scenario would see a brand new pipeline built, connecting Fort McMurray to the far-north port of Tuktoyaktuk.

Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner

Sources: Financial Post, Alaska Dispatch News

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/09092014/arctic-oilsands-pipeline-possibility/