Tarsands Infrastructure: South/East [US] is a category that represents the many connecting and supplying pipelines and associated projects that are needed to transport fuels for the production of tar sands bitumen and to move tar sand heavy bitumen to the Lower 48 of the US for refining. This involves some massive new pipeline projects to Illinois, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Louisiana, California, Pennsylvania, Texas and elsewhere including existing refineries in Ontario and Quebec.
Though the category is labelled "US", the proposed new projects also traverse untouched Canadian territory across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The names of some of the larger ones include The Alberta Clipper Project, The Spearhead Pipeline (expansion) and the Keystone Pipeline, along with other pipelines controlled by TransCanada and Enbridge, as well as Imperial Oil. Despite the massive size and scale of pipeline networks already existing through the continental United States, these pipelines and associated construction would be needed to achieve US and Canadian government goals of reaching 5 million barrels a day of tar sand oil being shipped out of the tar sands "ground zero" of Alberta.
First Nations take oilsands concerns to U. K.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/First+Nations+take+oilsands+conc...
<>By Hanneke Brooymans, Edmonton JournalAugust 28, 2009
Three First Nations people from northern Alberta are in London,
protesting the involvement of United Kingdom companies in oilsands
development.
Residents of Fort Chipewyan are especially concerned about some types of
cancer in their communities.
"Because of the people in my community dying and being sick, that's not
Alberta Clipper Pipeline construction under way in North Dakota, Minnesota
Construction of the Alberta Clipper Pipeline is beginning in northern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.
By: Kevin Bonham, Grand Forks Herald
Published August 24 2009
Construction of the Alberta Clipper Pipeline is beginning in northern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.
State Department Gives Green Light to Canada-U.S. Oil Pipeline
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 21, 2009
The State Department has approved the construction of a multibillion-dollar pipeline from Canadian oil sands to refineries in the United States, prompting an outcry from environmental groups opposed to oil sands development.
Tar Sands protest comes to UK Climate Camp
Ecologist
18th August, 2009
Oil extraction from tar sands is causing large-scale environmental damage, say activists
The fight against the extraction of oil from the tar sands of Alberta in Canada will reach the UK later this month.
Representatives from First Nations, the group that speaks for Canada's aboriginal people, will join in the London Climate Camp protest from August 27th to 31st.
Canada, ultradeep water assure US Gulf oil supply
Tue Aug 18, 2009
By Bruce Nichols - Analysis
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Growing volumes of crude oil from Canada and the Gulf of Mexico should assure U.S. Gulf Coast refiners adequate supplies for years to come despite fast-declining imports from Mexico and Venezuela.
Exxon boosts pipeline to oil sands by 50%
By Joe Carroll, Bloomberg
Aug 17, 2009
Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest oil refiner, boosted its capacity to transport crude from Canada’s oil sands to refineries in Texas and Louisiana.
Exxon Mobil increased the capacity of its 1,381-kilometre Pegasus Pipeline by 50% to about 96,000 barrels a day, the Irving, Tex.-based company said Wednesday in a statement.
Marathon delays Detroit refinery expansion project
Aug 05, 2009
DETROIT -- Marathon Oil Corporation, an integrated energy company, has announced that it is delaying the completion of the expansion of its Detroit refinery.
The company had earlier set the deadline for completion of the venture by mid-2012. It has not announced its new timeline for project completion.
The firm is upgrading the refinery to process 80,000 barrels of heavy oil per day.
© 2009 Electronic News Publishing
http://www.heavyoilinfo.com/marathon-delays-detroit-refinery-expansion-p...
Tunnel Below Miss. River Among Keystone's Biggest Challenges
by Dennis Grubaugh, The Telegraph, Alton, Ill.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
August 11, 2009
It's the ultimate in drilling challenges -- a tunnel 50 feet under the Mississippi River bottom, traversing a distance of 3,705 feet.
For those boring the way for the new TransCanada Keystone Oil Pipeline it's just part of the job and not even the biggest challenge in this region. That honor lies on the northern end of Illinois' Carlyle Lake, where the pipeline will span a distance of 4,500 feet.
Making sense of the disconnect in oil prices
By Deborah Yedlin, Calgary Herald
August 13, 2009
Oil prices edged over the $70 US per barrel mark again this week, staying at a level where they have spent most of August's trading days. But the relative strength being shown by oil prices is continuing to confound most observers.
Pipeline spokesman says sinkholes filled in Gorge
Aug 14 2009
Associated Press
Grafton, N.D. (AP) A spokesman for the Keystone oil pipeline says crews have finished filling seven sinkholes in the scenic Pembina Gorge that were formed after horizontal drilling to bury pipe.
Spokesman Jeff Rauh says the North Dakota Forest Service and the state Public Service Commission approved the plans for repairing the sinkholes. He says the company will monitor them for about a month.
Officials said earlier the sinkholes were about 40 feet deep.
