Enbridge to Develop Pipeline System for Kearl Project
By Joe Carroll
June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Enbridge Inc., the biggest transporter of oil from Canada’s tar sands, plans to build a pipeline to haul crude from Exxon Mobil Corp.’s C$8 billion ($7 billion) Kearl project in northern Alberta to Edmonton.
The first phase will connect the Kearl oil-sands site north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, to Enbridge’s Cheecham terminal near Nexen Inc.’s Long Lake development, Paula Leslie, an Enbridge spokeswoman, said today in a telephone interview.
The Calgary-based company hasn’t determined yet whether the Cheecham-to-Edmonton phase will require a new conduit or if Kearl’s production can be accommodated on one of Enbridge’s existing lines along that route, Leslie said. Exxon-controlled Imperial Oil Ltd. plans to begin pumping a tar-like crude known as bitumen from Kearl in late 2012.
“Once we know the scope and volumes Imperial is anticipating from Kearl, then we’ll know what form the next phase from Cheecham will take,” Leslie said.
Kearl’s first phase could produce as much as 140,000 barrels of bitumen a day, Imperial said on May 26. Fort McMurray, the heart of Canada’s oil-sands industry, is about 470 kilometers (292 miles) from Alberta’s refining center in Edmonton.
Enbridge fell 48 cents, or 1.2 percent, to C$38.70 at 10:05 a.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. Imperial dropped C$1.17 to C$43.03.
Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. oil company, owns about 70 percent of Imperial, based in Calgary.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aNoDP1Oxge3g
