By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Oct. 19 -- Altex Energy Ltd., a private Calgary company, has proposed to build and operate a pipeline to transport processed crude directly from northern Alberta's oil sands region to refineries on the US Gulf Coast.
Altex is assessing shipper interest, from which it will determine the pipeline's initial throughput capacity, precise route, receipt and delivery point configurations, and schedule.
The Altex Pipeline System is expected to have an initial throughput capacity of 250,000 b/d, which Altex Energy considers the economic threshold for a project of this type. The pipeline would be expandable to nearly 750,000 b/d.
Preliminary engineering, environmental, and other design and planning activities are under way, Altex said.
Altex is a new company with managers formerly involved in the 1,900-mile Alliance gas pipeline from eastern British Columbia to Chicago.
Other projects to carry oil sands production to the US recently have been proposed. Among them, TransCanada has a $1.7 billion proposal for the 1,870 mile Keystone Pipeline that would transport 400,000 b/d of crude oil from Hardisty, Alta., to Wood River and Patoka, Ill. (OGJ Online, Aug. 9, 2005). And Enbridge Energy Partners LP, Calgary, plans to add 400,000 b/d of crude oil capacity on its mainline system from Hardisty, Alta., to Chicago, Ill., as early as 2009 (OGJ Online, Aug. 1, 2005).