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Total Unit to Halt Work on Alberta Oil-Sands Project

The Canadian unit of France’s Total SA said Thursday it will halt its nearly decadelong development of a major oil sands project and lay off at least 100 local staff, a move that highlights the challenges of multibillion-dollar investments in unconventional sources of crude oil. A final investment decision on the roughly nine billion Canadian dollar (US$8.3 billion) project in northern Alberta, known as Joslyn North, has been pushed back indefinitely, the company said. Total received approval from the provincial government in 2011 and had envisioned starting production at the 157,000-barrel-a-day open-pit surface mine by 2020, according to recent filings. "Joslyn is facing the same challenge that most of the industry world-wide [faces]," Total E&P Canada President André Goffart told reporters on a conference call. ""The costs are continuing to inflate when the oil price—and specifically the netbacks for the oil sands—are remaining stable at best, thus squeezing […]

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TransCanada Explores Oil by Rail on Keystone Permit Wait

TransCanada Corp. (TRP) is considering ways to deliver Canadian crude oil by rail to the U.S. as customers of its proposed Keystone XL seek an alternative to the delayed pipeline, Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling said. The pipeline company is exploring how to modify existing contracts with Keystone XL customers to allow for rail shipments as it awaits U.S. permits for the pipe, Girling said in an interview yesterday at Bloomberg headquarters in New York . A rail option, which may cost twice as much as sending the crude via Keystone, would be an inefficient way of transporting the oil, he said. The trigger for pushing ahead with rail was the Obama administration’s April 18 announcement that it was delaying a decision on the $5.4 billion project because of a court battle in , Girling said. A rail option would have much lower upfront costs than the pipeline — […]

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Canadian crude oil exports increased in March

Total crude oil exports from Canada in March were 5 percent higher than the previous month, the National Energy Board said. NEB, the nation’s energy regulator, published data Wednesday for March showing total crude exports of 2.85 million barrels was a monthly record for the year and 5 percent more than February figures. NEB provided no data on export destination. Typically, nearly all of Canada’s oil exports head to the United States. More of that crude oil is headed across the border by rail as increased production strains existing pipeline capacity. In January, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said 500 railcars delivered oil in 2009, but increased to 160,000 in 2013. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has sought to add a layer of diversity to an energy export economy that depends almost exclusively on the United States. Canada and Saudi Arabia were the […]

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Canada moves to put toughter limits on dangerous oil trains

Emergency personnel examine the wreckage of a train derailment near Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, February 13, 2014. The 120-car Norfolk Southern Corp train carrying heavy Canadian crude oil derailed and spilled in western Pennsylvania.  In Lynchburg, Virginia, on April 30, a train carrying crude oil derailed , and some of the rail cars exploded into a ball of fire, and then fell into the James River. This was not an isolated incident. A number of explosive train derailments, including the tragedy in Lac-Megantic, Quebec , which killed 44 people, have raised the alarm about the safety of shipping oil by rail. The oil now gushing from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and the Alberta Tar Sands has overwhelmed pipeline capacity, and millions of gallons now ride the rails, often in older tanker cars vulnerable to rupture. Increased alarm and public pressure have now pushed Canada to act. New rules announced […]

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Canada Said to Aim to Bolster Aboriginal Pipeline Support

The Canadian government is poised to take another step to boost support for pipelines as it prepares to rule on Enbridge Inc. (ENB) ’s proposed Northern Gateway project. Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford plans to announce his department will set up a new branch office based in British Columbia to oversee discussions with aboriginal groups, two people briefed on the matter said yesterday. The announcement may take place as early as next week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The branch will be part of the Major Projects Management Office based in Ottawa that was created in 2007 to support regulatory reviews of resource developments. Rickford’s announcement will address recommendations made in December by Douglas Eyford, a lawyer appointed by Harper to review aboriginal concerns about resource development. In his report, Eyford advised building on the Major Projects Management Office model […]

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Chiyoda Wins $10 Billion Canada LNG Plant Order

TOKYO—Japan’s Chiyoda Corp. , in partnership with three other companies, has won a contract to design and build a $10 billion natural gas liquefaction terminal in western Canada, which is expected to supply gas to Japan and other parts of Asia. The project, in Kitimat, British Columbia, is one of a number of Canadian developments under way seeking to tap into growing demand in Asia for liquid natural gas. Japan, in particular, is expected to need large amounts of LNG as it fills a gap in its energy supplies from reduced use of nuclear power after the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. But projects in British Columbia have been slowed by concerns over the potential environmental impact and questions about the costs of development. Chiyoda and another Japanese engineering concern, Corp. , have been active bidders for contracts to build LNG plants, a complex task that involves […]

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Canada Unveils New Fines for Rail-Safety Violations

Canada on Friday said railway companies will now face fines of up to 250,000 Canadian dollars ($229,843) for safety violations, the government’s latest move to toughen standards in the sector in the wake of last summer’s deadly derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. The Canadian government said the new monetary penalties, which will vary based on the severity of the violation, will "provide a faster alternative to prosecution," and are similar to those in place in the marine and aviation sectors. Individuals who violate rail-safety rules will also be subject to fines, but to the lesser maximum amount of C$50,000. "The proposed regulations introduce penalties as an additional enforcement tool to improve railway safety. These monetary penalties will help crack down on rule-breakers and improve the safety of the Canadian railway system," Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt said in a statement. The July 6, 2013, derailment of a crude-carrying train in […]

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Keystone Delays Fuel Push for Canada East Oil Pipeline

Delays by the U.S. in reviewing Keystone XL are helping build momentum for an oil pipeline to Canada ’s East Coast. TransCanada Corp. (TRP) , the company proposing the $5.4 billion conduit to connect Alberta ’s oil sands with U.S. Gulf Coast refiners, may have an easier path to approval with its alternative to the nation’s Atlantic Coast. The C$12 billion ($11 billion) Energy East would be North America ’s largest oil line, with capacity to ship 1.1 million barrels a day. “We view the Energy East project a step in the right direction,” Thomas Mulcair , leader of the federal New Democratic Party , said at the Bloomberg Canada Economic Summit yesterday in Toronto. The opposition leader prefers the project over Keystone because it would support Canadian “value-added” jobs by supplying refineries in Eastern Canada. While shipping oil-sands crude across the country to the port of Saint John, […]

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Negligence Charges Brought in Quebec Derailment and Fire

The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway and three of its employees have been charged with criminal negligence in connection with a derailment that killed 47 people and incinerated much of downtown Lac-Mégantic, Quebec , last July, officials said on Monday. In a brief statement, the office of Quebec’s director of criminal prosecutions said that Thomas Harding, the engineer and sole employee working on the train, was among those arrested. Federal accident investigators have found that Mr. Harding failed to apply the minimum number of required hand brakes after parking the train for the night. The train was carrying crude oil from North Dakota. A fire in the locomotive led to the loss of the train’s air brakes. Combined with the lack of hand brakes, that eventually allowed the train to run out of control into the town. The unexpectedly volatile nature of the Bakken crude oil led […]

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Oil sent from Canada by rail increasing

Crude oil exported from Canada by rail topped 140,000 barrels per day during fourth quarter 2013, nearly double the 2012 figures, a regulator said. The National Energy Board, Canada’s energy regulator, published quarterly data for crude oil exports by rail Monday. It said that, combined, 184,907 barrels of oil per day were delivered by rail over 2012, with more than 40 percent of that volume sent during the fourth quarter. Fourth quarter 2012 exports by rail were 79,763 bpd, compared with the 146,047 bpd sent during fourth quarter 2013. Overall 2013 deliveries by rail were 502,215 bpd. An accelerated rate of crude oil production in North America has strained existing pipeline capacity. Industry officials say rail transport is taking up the slack. Increased crude oil deliveries by rail corresponded with an increase in derailments. More than 40 people were killed last year in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, when a train carrying […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple