Oil sands pipeline to U.S. refineries nears approval
JAMES MCPHERSON
Associated Press
March 4, 2008
BISMARCK, N.D. -- The U.S. State Department intends to issue a permit this month for a $5.2-billion (U.S.) pipeline that would transport crude oil from central Alberta through seven states to U.S. refineries.
The State Department, in a decision published yesterday in the Federal Register, said that if no other federal agency objects, a permit will be issued within 15 days for the Keystone pipeline, a project of TransCanada Corp., Canada's largest natural gas shipper, based in Calgary.
A permit would allow the project to move forward this spring, TransCanada spokeswoman Cecily Dobson said.
The entire 3,456-kilometre pipeline will be able to carry 590,000 barrels of oil daily by late 2010, Ms. Dobson said. Most of that oil will come from planned expansions of output from northern Alberta oil sands projects. Canadian regulators already have approved the route through Canada, she said.
The pipeline will be equally owned by TransCanada and Houston-based ConocoPhillips Co., Ms. Dobson said.
It would carry crude oil across Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and through North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri on the way to refineries in Patoka, Ill., and Cushing, Okla.
The project will see main pipeline facilities in Canada converted from natural gas to crude oil transmission and the construction of about 2,200 kilometres of pipeline and pump stations in the U.S. Because it crosses the U.S.-Canadian border, the project requires a presidential permit from the State Department. The department in January issued a statement saying the pipeline would result in limited environmental harm. State Department officials did not immediately return telephone calls yesterday seeking further comment.
Elizabeth Orlando, the State Department's project manager working with the pipeline, said earlier that the review of the project was the largest in the agency's history.
Ms. Dobson said the company plans to start work on the pipeline this spring and complete it in 2009. The company expects crude to be piped to the refinery in Illinois late next year, and to the refinery in Oklahoma a year later, she said.
ConocoPhillips bought a 50-per-cent stake in Keystone last year for an undisclosed price after a previous deal had committed the U.S. company to ship crude oil on the pipeline and gave it the right to acquire up to half-ownership.
TransCanada's network of pipelines extends more than 59,000 kilometres, tapping into virtually all major gas supply basins in North America.
TRANSCANADA (TRP)
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