By Nia Williams
Calgary, Alberta, Canada - Enbridge Inc’s long-awaited start of its Line 9 (click here) oil pipeline to Montreal will allow Quebec refineries to run on 100 percent cheap North American inland crude, leaving around 100,000 barrels per day of foreign crude searching for a new home.
The Calgary-based energy company received approval from regulators on Wednesday to finally start operating the 300,000 bpd pipeline carrying mainly light crude from Sarnia, Ontario, to Montreal, Quebec, nearly a year after it was first expected in service.
For Quebec’s two refineries, Suncor Energy’s 137,000 bpd Montreal plant and Valero Energy’s 265,000 bpd Jean Gaulin facility, the approval is a welcome boon.
Both will be able to switch to a diet of 100 percent West Texas Intermediate-linked crude such as Canadian light synthetic or North Dakota Bakken, displacing pricier Brent-linked feedstock from regions including West Africa and the North Sea.
At present the refineries receive crude by rail, seaborne imports into Quebec, and volumes from the Portland-Montreal pipeline, which transports imported crude north....
The Calgary-based energy company received approval from regulators on Wednesday to finally start operating the 300,000 bpd pipeline carrying mainly light crude from Sarnia, Ontario, to Montreal, Quebec, nearly a year after it was first expected in service.
For Quebec’s two refineries, Suncor Energy’s 137,000 bpd Montreal plant and Valero Energy’s 265,000 bpd Jean Gaulin facility, the approval is a welcome boon.
Both will be able to switch to a diet of 100 percent West Texas Intermediate-linked crude such as Canadian light synthetic or North Dakota Bakken, displacing pricier Brent-linked feedstock from regions including West Africa and the North Sea.
At present the refineries receive crude by rail, seaborne imports into Quebec, and volumes from the Portland-Montreal pipeline, which transports imported crude north....
Enbridge is operating Line 5 in violation of a 1953 easement agreement between Canada and the State of Michigan. The Canadian government is using "legal speak" in the face of burgeoning tragedy to the Great Lakes. The USA has invested incredible amounts of money to rehabilitate the Great Lakes and the economies that exist because of them, as well as Native American interests. Those investments will all be lost if the tragedy of Line 5 is realized and there is absolutely no reason to believe the danger is fictitious.
Canada’s legal brief was direct: “The United States undertook a solemn and reciprocal commitment to Canada…not to interfere with the operations of international hydrocarbon transit pipelines. That obligation, with legally binding effect under international law, expressly applies to any measures instituted by a ‘public authority in the territory of either party’ — including the State of Michigan and this court…”
There needs to be a far different solution than Canada's "legal speak" that simply seeks to oppress the facts with the permission of the courts. Line 5 is dangerous. It needs to be ended. ESPECIALLY, in the face of the facts, there is no timeline for the building of a tunnel to accommodate a new pipeline. NO TIMELINE. Enbridge thinks it is all too unfortunate if Line 5 breaks open and dumps hundreds of thousands of oil in the water of the Great Lakes.
The big excuse about Line 5 is that it's absence will effect the jet fuel needed at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Really?
