Vessels Lined up For Trans Mountain Crude

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--There are more than a dozen vessels parked off the coast of Vancouver waiting to take on oil from the expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline from Alberta, a company official recently revealed.

Flows began in May through the expansion of the Trans Mountain Corporation's (TMC) (Calgary, Alberta) crude oil pipeline, which will help Canada break out of North American deadlock via exports from British Columbia.

Approved in 2019, the expansion twinned the existing 714-mile pipeline that runs from Alberta. Nominal capacity on the system expands from 300,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) to 880,000 BBL/d. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Pipeline Project Database can click here for a list of related project reports.

Speaking to Reuters, the company's chief financial officer Mark Maki said the line is running as expected, with about 80% of the peak capacity booked. There are 22 vessels scheduled to take on crude at the Port of Vancouver from the expansion.

"The dock facility is working as we'd expected," he said Wednesday. "There are a few things of course you've got to break in and get running right, but we're happy with where we're at."

The expansion is encouraging producers in Alberta to take advantage of the new capacity. Athabasca Oil Corporation (Calgary, Alberta) plans to drill multiple dual-horizontal well pairs and build a second central processing facility in the region, raising bitumen production from 12,000 BBL/d to 52,000 BBL/d.

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (CNRL) (Calgary) also is expanding operations at its Kirby North oil sands facility, where production will increase from 40,000 BBL/d to 100,000 BBL/d.

Alberta, meanwhile, can expect another banner year after setting a record of 3.73 million BBL/d in production last year. For more information on projects in Canada's oil sands region, see June 11, 2024, article - Canada's Oil Sands Region Booms as Trans Mountain Expands.

The expansion could help Canadian oil reach the energy-hungry markets of Asia. Outside of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), economists at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said China is expected to be the main driver of oil growth this year.

Non-OECD demand in general should increase by 2.1 million BBL/d when compared with year-ago levels during the second half of the year.

Canada currently is the top crude oil exporter to the U.S. by far, delivering an average of 3.7 million BBL/d over the four weeks ending June 7. The second-largest exporter, Mexico, delivered only about 550,000 BBL/d on average during the same period.

The pipeline is owned by the Canadian government. With Trans Mountain carrying the equivalent of about 20% of the total exports typically sent to the U.S., Canada's southern neighbor may need to look to alternate supplies from nations like Ecuador, which produces a crude oil similar to Alberta's, to fill any voids.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).