ALBERTA-WYOMING CRUDE LINE PROJECT REACTIVATED
The $530 million (Canadian) 784 mile line from Hardisty, Alta., to Opal, Wyo., was first proposed in 1993 but failed to win producer support.
AEC said producers are now ready to support the line at a time when productive capacity is increasing in Canada and declining in the U.S.
The 170,000 b/d line targets markets in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Montana. It is scheduled for completion in November 1996.
The Express pipeline partners, both of Calgary, contend the project is attractive because Canada's oil productive capacity is increasing at the same time declining U.S. inland production is raising concern about the adequacy of inland refiners' crude supplies.
In their view, growing Canadian crude volumes offer U.S. inland refiners a more secure source of crude supplies from outside the region than waterborne imports.
AEC said initial shipping capacity of the reactivated project will include a variety of crudes with clean hatching capacity Shipment qualities will vary, with throughput to include synthetic oil and bitumen blends.
The first effort to launch the Express line failed when producers supported a rival project by IPL Energy Inc., Calgary, to increase its crude oil pipeline capacity to U.S. Midwest markets.
PIPELINE ROUTE, STATUS
The Express line would use the same right of way as the proposed Altamont natural gas pipeline from Alberta to Wyoming.
The 270 mile Canadian portion of the pipeline will extend south from Hardisty, southeast of Edmonton, to interconnect with the U.S. portion of the pipeline at Wild Horse west of the Saskatchewan-Alberta border.
The 515 mile U.S. portion of the pipeline will extend south from Wild Horse and use the right of way of the previously approved Altamont natural gas pipeline route, traversing Montana and northern Wyoming. It then will parallel the existing Platte Pipeline System between Lost Cabin and Casper, Wyo.
An application for construction of the Express line has been filed with Canada's National Energy Board. The companies will seek approval from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Land Management to begin construction in spring 1996.
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