Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and Imperial Oil have formed a 50-50 joint venture to build a crude oil rail-loading terminal in Strathcona County, Alta., called the Edmonton Rail Terminal. The JV will build the terminal on heavy industrial-zoned land about 0.5 km southwest of KMEP’s Edmonton storage terminal, on land adjacent to Imperial’s Strathcona refinery. Terminal design calls for a crude oil loading terminal capable of loading 1-3 unit trains/day for a combined 100,000 b/d at start up, with the potential to expand to 250,000 b/d.
KMEP’s Edmonton storage will supply the rail terminal for delivery on both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific mainlines. Imperial will be the base load customer and has subscribed for the start-up capacity through a long-term contract. The company said it will use the terminal for current and future production from the Kearl Oil Sands project, including the expansion phase scheduled for late-2015 start-up.
The partners are now actively marketing possible expansion capacity to potential third-party customers. The rail terminal will cost $170 million. KMEP will also spend about $100 million on pipeline connections and two new staging tanks to be built at its storage facility.
Construction is under way and completion is scheduled for December 2014.
KMEP formed a joint venture earlier this year with Keyera Corp. to build a separate crude oil rail terminal in Edmonton, the Alberta Crude Terminal, which will also pull its supplies from KMEP’s Edmonton storage (OGJ Online, Aug. 2, 2013).
Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].