Category:

Rail fading from North Dakota oil transit

State data from North Dakota show rail transport of crude oil falling back after peaking in December 2014. Graph courtesy of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority BISMARCK, N.D., Aug. 18 (UPI) — New pipelines operating in North Dakota have pushed the volume of crude oil by rail lower during the first half of the year, a state official said. Rail broke away from pipelines as the main source of crude oil delivery in 2012. The boom in shale oil production from the so-called Williston basin, hosting the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations, had outpaced pipeline capacity, leaving companies with rail as the primary alternative transit option. After peaking in December 2014, when the state set its crude oil production record at 1.22 million barrels per day, transport by rail has been in a general decline and is now at parity with pipeline transport. Justin Kringstad, director of the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

TransCanada: Study shows pipeline safer than rail

TransCanada points to study that says using pipelines to transport oil and natural gas is safer than rail. Photo courtesy of TransCanada. CALGARY, Alberta, Aug. 14 (UPI) — Pipeline company TransCanada pointed to a study that suggests the increase in the rail transport of crude oil is a risky option for the industry. TransCanada spokesperson Mark Cooper in an emailed statement said a report from The Fraser Institute shows transport of crude oil and natural gas in Canada by pipelines is 4.5 times safer than rail. For its long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline through the United States, the company said pipelines are also substantially less carbon intensive than other modes of transit. "Federally regulated pipelines in Canada currently move just under 15 times more hydrocarbons than do the railroads," Kenneth P. Green, the study’s lead author, said in a statement. "But with increased production and continued opposition to new pipeline […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

TransCanada Alberta Pipelines Set Back by Oil Rout, Keystone Lag

TransCanada Corp. is slowing work on two pipelines in Alberta because of reduced demand tied to lower crude prices and setbacks to its major oil export projects. TransCanada is indefinitely bumping back construction that was planned for earlier this year on its Heartland line from Edmonton to Hardisty since the Keystone XL and Energy East systems it would supply are delayed, executives said Friday on a conference call. Full expansion of the company’s Grand Rapids line from Fort McMurray to Edmonton, now under construction with startup planned for 2016, is being slowed as production rises more slowly in the oil sands. “A lot of the commercial underpinning for Heartland is tied to Energy East and Keystone XL,” said Paul Miller, president of liquids pipelines at TransCanada. “We do anticipate a slowing growth of throughput and build-out of the Grand Rapids system to align with the slowing pace of oil […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Evidence Released at TransCanada’s Keystone XL Permit Renewal Hearing Sheds Light On Serious Pipeline Risks

Just because TransCanada continually states that the Keystone XL pipeline will be the safest pipeline ever built, doesn’t mean it is true. The company’s pipeline construction record is facing intense scrutiny in America’s heartland, where many see no justifiable rationale to risk their water and agricultural lands for a tar sands export pipeline . New documents submitted as evidence in the Keystone XL permitting process in South Dakota — including one published here on DeSmog for the first time publicly — paint a troubling picture of the company’s shoddy construction mishaps. This document, produced by TransCanada and signed by two company executives, details the results of its investigation into the “root cause” of the corrosion problems discovered on the Keystone pipeline. TransCanada Corporation is continuing its push to build the northern route of the Keystone XL pipeline. On July 27, the company appeared at a hearing in Pierre, South […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Keystone Backer Hoeven Says Obama Will Reject Pipeline in August

A leading congressional supporter of the Keystone XL pipeline predicted President Barack Obama will reject the project when Congress is set to be out of town in August. Senator John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, cited “sources” Tuesday as he discussed the pipeline in a Senate floor speech without identifying where his information came from. “He’ll wait until Congress is out of session for August,” Hoeven said, according to Bloomberg BNA. The $8 billion Keystone XL project proposed by TransCanada Corp. has become one of the most contentious energy issues of Obama’s presidency. Environmentalists oppose the pipeline because it would promote development of the Alberta oil sands, which releases more greenhouse gases than conventional drilling. Hoeven supports the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have the capacity to carry about 830,000 barrels of oil a day to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. Obama vetoed a bill the Republican-led Congress passed this […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Cnooc Oil-Sands Spill Worsens Outlook for Canada Pipeline Plans

Crews clean an oil spill at Nexen Energy’s Long Lake facility near Fort McMurray on July 22, 2015. Photographer: Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get oil-sands pipeline projects off the ground, and Alberta’s worst spill since 1980 will probably make it tougher. A rupture in a line operated by Nexen, a unit of China’s Cnooc Ltd., spewed 31,500 barrels of bitumen, waste water and sand into the bog-like muskeg of the province’s north this month, igniting outrage from communities along pipeline routes. The crude in the slurry would be enough to make gasoline to fill up about 15,000 cars. The leak is bolstering opposition that has stalled every major crude export project from Canada in recent years and may lead to more stringent regulations. The delays to multibillion-dollar pipelines such as TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL are threatening output growth and have led producers […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Hillary Clinton Sidesteps Keystone in Climate Plan Rollout

DES MOINES – Hillary Clinton pledged to make combating climate change a central focus of the 2016 presidential campaign, saying Monday that she would not allow “deniers” to thwart progress or prevent the U.S. from leading on the issue. While Mrs. Clinton cast herself as a crusader for clean energy, she declined to weigh in on a key environmental debate, taking no position on whether to build the Keystone XL pipeline. At an event in Iowa touting her climate plan, Mrs. Clinton said that as secretary of state, she set in motion the review evaluating the pipeline and now would allow her successor, John Kerry , and President Barack Obama to make the final decision. “I will refrain from commenting because I had a leading role in getting that process started,” Mrs. Clinton said. “And I think that we have to let it run its course.” Many Republicans have […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

TransCanada boasts of benefits of North American pipelines

Pipeline company TransCanada says it’s shipped 1 billion barrels of oil through the existing Keystone network through North America. (courtesy TransCanada) CALGARY, Alberta, July 20 (UPI) — The shipment of the 1 billionth barrel of oil through the Keystone oil pipeline system shows commitment to U.S. energy security, TransCanada said. The Canadian pipeline company said the pipeline system has brought in close to $200 million in taxes and generated more than 14,000 construction jobs since it was commissioned in 2010. "These one billion barrels of oil have helped to fuel North American energy independence and the U.S. economic recovery, which has seen a dramatic rise in the number of oil and gas jobs as well as an increase in supply through a mix of Canadian imported and domestic production," TransCanada President and Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling said in a statement. The Keystone pipeline system stretches from Alberta to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

No contact with Iran, European gas pipeline group says

Consortium overseeing natural gas pipeline for Europe says it hasn’t been in contact with Iran, where sanctions may be easing after a breakthrough nuclear deal. File Photo by Hamid Forotan/ISNA BAAR, Switzerland, July 17 (UPI) — A consortium managing a pipeline designed as a way to diversify the European natural gas sector said it hasn’t made any contacts with potential Iranian suppliers. Iran may receive staged sanctions relief as a result of the breakthrough nuclear agreement brokered with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany. Energy companies BP and Shell both confirmed in response to emailed questions they were reviewing potential work in an Iranian oil sector that could be opening up to investors. When reviewing the credentials of Bulgarian Ambassador to Tehran Christo Polendakov in May, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his government viewed Bulgaria as a means to tap into the European energy […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

House revisits push for Keystone XL

House committee issues subpoena to State Department seeking all documents related to the Keystone XL oil pipeline planned to cross the U.S.-Canadian border. Photo courtesy of TransCanada WASHINGTON, July 9 (UPI) — A committee from the Republican-led House of Representatives said it issued a subpoena to the State Department on the permit process for Keystone XL . The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said it wanted "all reports, recommendations, letters, and comments received by the State Department" about the Keystone XL oil pipeline planned to cross the U.S.-Canadian border. The Republican-led Congress that took its seat in January said passing legislation to approve construction of Keystone XL, offered for U.S. federal consideration more than six years ago, was job No. 1. The pipeline has become a scapegoat for U.S. energy policies, with backers touting its energy and economic benefits, while detractors say it’s too environmentally risky to support. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple