TransCanada boosts size of planned Keystone line
Tue Jul 3, 2007 11:43 AM EDT138
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CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp. (TRP.TO: Quote) said on Tuesday it plans to boost the capacity of its proposed Keystone oil pipeline from Alberta to the U.S. Midwest to 590,000 barrels a day, from 435,000 barrels, after shippers committed to sending more crude on the line.
TransCanada, the country's biggest pipeline firm, said Keystone will ship 435,000 barrels a day when construction of the line from Hardisty, Alberta, to the refining centers of Patoka and Wood River, Illinois is completed in 2009.
However, it will raise that amount to 590,000 barrels a day with additional pumping stations when it extends the pipe to Cushing, Oklahoma in 2010.
The company has not said how much the increased capacity on the line will cost. Its last estimate for construction of the line was $2.8 billion.
TransCanada and rival Enbridge Inc. (ENB.TO: Quote) are both proposing new oil pipelines to U.S. refining centers to handle a massive boost in the amount of crude flowing from the oil sands of northern Alberta.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said last month that by 2015, U.S. demand for Canadian crude would reach 3.1 million barrels a day, nearly double the country's current output. Almost all of that new oil will come from the more than C$100 billion of projects slated for the oil sands and the new pipelines are being built to handle the additional flow.
TransCanada said in a statement that it decided to increase Keystone's capacity after shippers committed to putting another 155,000 barrels a day on the line. With the new commitments, oil producers have contracted to place a total of 495,000 barrels a day on the yet-to-be-built pipeline.
Construction of the line is expected to begin next year.
