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Keystone Left Behind as Canadian Oil Pours Into U.S.

Print Back to story Delays of the Keystone XL pipeline are providing little obstacle to Western Canadian oil producers getting their crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast, with shipments set to more than double next year. The volume of Canadian crude processed at Gulf Coast refineries could climb to more than 400,000 barrels a day in 2015 from 208,000 in August, according to Jackie Forrest , vice president of Calgary-based ARC Financial Corp. The increase comes as Enbridge Inc.’s Flanagan South and an expanded Seaway pipeline raise their capacity to ship oil by as much as 450,000 barrels a day. Canadian exports to the Gulf rose 83 percent in the past four years. The expansion shows Canadians are finding alternative entry points into the U.S. while the Keystone saga drags on. In the latest chapter, a Democratic senator and a Republican representative are seeking votes in their chambers to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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House lays out pro-Keystone XL agenda

Expected Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), R-Ky., and House Speaker John Boehner (L), R-Ohio, said authorizing the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline has "obvious" bipartisan support. FILE/UPI/Mike Theiler WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) — A Republican-led House Energy Committee said that, while Keystone XL is just one piece of the energy puzzle, it’s a key component of the wider whole. The GOP has drafted its new course for the next Congress following the Republican takeover of the Senate after Tuesday’s midterm elections. Getting the Keystone XL pipeline approved is at the top of the Republican agenda. The House Energy and Commerce Committee issued an agenda statement Thursday, saying the congressional energy strategy should be broader than just one pipeline. "But Keystone XL still remains an important part of any comprehensive energy plan so we will keep fighting for its approval," the statement read. In an op-ed published by […]

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Shell Says LNG Canada Project To Cost Up To $35.3B

URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/135812/Shell_Says_LNG_Canada_Project_To_Cost_Up_To_353B CALGARY, Alberta, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc , the lead partner in the consortium planning the LNG Canada facility on British Columbia’s remote northern coast, said on Friday the project to liquefy natural gas for export to Asia could cost as much as C$40 billion ($35.3 billion) when fully complete. Shell’s cost estimate for the LNG Canada facility near Kitimat, British Columbia, was included in the environmental assessment filed with provincial regulators on Friday. The filing begins a 180-day review of the proposal but the company cautioned it and its partners have not yet decided whether to build the plant. "While today’s announcement is an important step forward for the proposed project, LNG Canada must ensure the project is economically viable and meet several other significant milestones related to gas supply, engineering and cost estimates, supply of labor and regulatory approval prior to making […]

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Keystone Approval Sought by Republicans Daring Obama Veto

A top priority for a Republican-led Senate will be to send President Barack Obama a bill to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline and dare him to veto it. While most senators support TransCanada Corp. (TRP) ’s proposed $8 billion Canada-to-U.S. oil pipeline, the Senate under a Democratic majority hasn’t held a binding vote on it since 2012. The Republican-controlled House has repeatedly voted to permit the pipeline’s construction. Advocates say the shift in Senate leadership next year will give them more leverage in the oil-versus-environment debate that has raged since TransCanada applied for a permit in 2008. While they say they have at least the 60 votes needed to get a bill through Congress, they will lack the two-thirds margin to override a presidential veto. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, poised to lead the Republican majority in January, said at a news conference today that the Senate will take […]

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Keystone XL may be filibuster-proof

Construction of the Keystone XL pipeline is shown in North Dakota. (courtesy TransCanada) WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (UPI) — The outcome of the U.S. midterm elections means there may be enough votes in the full Senate to force a vote on Keystone XL legislation, results show. A shift in control in the Senate from Democrats to Republicans means there may now be at least 60 votes in favor of the pipeline, overcoming the majority needed to break a filibuster. In states from West Virginia to Colorado, Republicans took the place of Democrats long opposed to the controversial pipeline planned to cross the U.S.-Canadian border. "I think you’re going to see us bring up energy legislation right away and Keystone will be one of the first things we pass," Sen. John Hoeven , R-N.D., said late Tuesday. Hoeven and Sen. Mary Landrieu , D-La., chairwoman of the Senate Energy Committee, introduced […]

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TransCanada Boosts Keystone XL Cost Nearly 50% To $7.02B

URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/135745/TransCanada_Boosts_Keystone_XL_Cost_Nearly_50_To_702B Hess To Form MLP For North Dakota Oil, Gas Transport Assets TransCanada raises estimated capital costs for its controversial Keystone XL project citing lengthy delays. Nov 4 (Reuters) – TransCanada Corp, Canada’s No.2 pipeline company, on Tuesday raised estimated capital costs for its controversial Keystone XL project to C$8 billion ($7.02 billion) from an initial projection of C$5.4 billion, citing lengthy delays. Keystone XL, which would carry as much as 830,000 barrels per day of Alberta oil sands crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast, has been awaiting U.S. presidential permit for more than six years amid bitter opposition from environmental groups. However, with Republicans expected to make major gains and possibly even recapture the Senate in U.S. mid-term elections on Tuesday, there may be an opportunity for lawmakers in favor of the 830,000 barrel-per-day pipeline to force President Barack Obama to make a call. TransCanada Chief Executive […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Plains Bedfellows

WINNER, S.D. — Pipelines break. They don’t break often, but when they do, the result can be catastrophic. That’s what worries John Harter, a rancher who grew up in this rural, poor and conservative area of southern South Dakota. Harter, 51, still lives here, and owns land that the Keystone XL pipeline would cross if it’s ever approved. Harter points to the 2010 spill of 860,000 gallons of tar sand oil from a pipeline crossing the Kalamazoo River in Michigan when people ask what he’s fighting against. Enbridge, the company which owned the pipeline, just finished cleaning up that spill this summer. A similar amount of that same kind of oil could be flowing at high pressure past Harter’s ranch each day if TransCanada’s Keystone XL is built. But over the last six years, as Harter voiced his concerns about the Keystone to the ranchers surrounding him, he found […]

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Advocates blast TransCanada pipeline proposal

Critics tell TransCanada its new Energy East oil pipeline will face stiff opposition. UPI/Brian Kersey Pipeline planner TransCanada can expect to face "considerable opposition" to its Energy East tar sands pipeline for the eastern Canada, an advocacy group said. TransCanada submitted a formal permit to move ahead with its Energy East pipeline. The project would add new pipeline and convert existing gas infrastructure to carry Alberta oil to the eastern Canadian market. Advocates with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s International Program said the project puts the eastern Canadian shoreline at risk . "A new tar sands pipeline called Energy East proposed by TransCanada — the company behind the contentious Keystone XL tar sands pipeline — faces considerable opposition and numerous hurdles that make this project far from a done deal," they said in a Thursday statement. TransCanada says Energy East would give refineries a source of domestic crude in […]

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Two New Bakken Crude Oil Pipelines Online by 2016

Pipeline Construction | Click to Enlarge Dallas, TX-based Energy Transfer Partners announced a joint venture with Houston-based Phillips 66 at the end of October, 2014, to build two pipelines that will move crude oil out of North Dakota’s Bakken Shale field. Energy Transfer Partners will have a 75% interest in the pipelines. Phillips 66 will have a 25% interest, and will pay a proportionate cost of the construction. Both the “Dakota Access Pipeline” and “Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline” are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016. “We look forward to working with Phillips 66 to build this much-needed pipeline infrastructure to link rapidly growing supplies of domestically produced light crude oil in the Bakken and Three Forks play to refineries throughout the country,” said Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren. According to Energy Transfer Partners, the Dakota Access Pipeline is expected to deliver in excess of 450,000 b/d of crude […]

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In the path of the pipeline

BRADSHAW, Neb. — The only sign of the six-year fight over the 400 acres of land that belong to Shannon and Kevin Graves is a wooden stick on the edge of a cornfield across from their modest home, located down a dirt road about an hour west of Lincoln. The stick marks where a section of the Keystone XL pipeline may one day be laid. Each day, as their nephew Daniel tends their cornfields, Kevin and Shannon Graves drive about 15 minutes away to their store, Tradition Hardware, located in the one-street town of Polk. Over the years, that daily drive past the stick has morphed into a reminder that, even as the battle over the Keystone XL has ignited a renewed environmental movement that sways state, national and international politics, at the end of the day, the pipeline fight is a local one. “It’s not a political issue […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple