Enbridge to twin its Canada oil sands pipeline
Enbridge will twin the southern section of its Athabasca Pipeline from Kirby Lake, Alberta, to the crude oil hub in Hardisty, Alberta, at an estimated cost of approximately $1.2 billion.
The twin line will initially add approximately 450,000 bpd of capacity between these points, with low-cost expansion potential to 800,000 bpd, the company said.
The line is expected to be capable of accepting initial volumes by early 2015, with its full initial capacity available by 2016, according to Enbridge.
The new line will include approximately 345 kilometers (210 miles) of 36-inch pipeline largely within the existing Athabasca Pipeline right-of-way.
The new line is designed to accommodate the need for additional capacity to serve Kirby area oil sands growth, beyond the expansion of the existing 30-inch pipeline to its maximum capacity of 570,000 bpd which was announced in the fall of 2010.
Transferring existing Kirby area volumes to the new 36-inch line from the existing 30-inch line will also free up the latter to accommodate additional long-haul volumes originating from the Cheecham or Athabasca terminals further upstream on the Athabasca System.
"Twinning our Athabasca system south of Kirby represents a highly efficient solution to the needs we are seeing for additional long-haul and short-haul capacity into Hardisty, leveraging off the advantages of our existing asset base and right-of-way," said Stephen J. Wuori, president for the liquid pipelines segment.
"While anchored by the needs of our current connected projects, it is readily expandable to accommodate new projects which are also expected to require pipeline capacity beginning mid-decade,” he continued.
“This project is a significant part of our overall plan to provide capacity for rapidly growing production from the Kirby area as well as from growth projects further north in the Athabasca region."
With the twinning project, Enbridge will have a total of $3.6 billion of planned expansions of or additions to its regional oil sands system, which will go into service between 2011 to 2015, as well as a significant portfolio of additional projects which are under development to meet oil sands growth.
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