Saturday, November 03, 2012

TransCanada and PetroChina plan Grand Rapids pipeline from Fort Mac to Edmonton

This child, who may be Asian but also
may be Mexican, is  clearly hatching
an evil plan. PetroChina is definitely
 Asian and may or may not be hatching
a similarly dastardly scheme with this
pipeline.
TransCanada and Phoenix Energy Holdings (a unit of PetroChina) plan to build the "Grand Rapids Pipeline",  a 500 km (300 mi) pipeline from Fort McMurray to Edmonton. It would carry 900,000 barrels per day of crude (!!) and 330,000 barrels per day of diluent. It would cost $3 billion and come online by 2017.


It would be a 50/50 partnership and would be the first big foray of a Chinese company into Canadian pipelines. PetroChina (which is itself controlled by CNPC) expects to produce 400,000 barrels a day from its Dover and MacKay River properties, which it bought Athabasca's remaining share of in March. Personally, I'll believe 400 thousand barrel a day SAGD project when I see it - I believe that would make it the biggest SAGD producer in the province, despite having a couple of second tier properties. I don't have a lot to base my opinion that they're second tier properties, except that if they were really as good as, say, Foster Creek and Christina Lake they'd already be producing, and Athabasca wouldn't have sold their remaining share in them to go and diddle around with Hangingstone and others which I believe are less than "slam dunk" properties. 

Guess I got a little offtrack from the pipelines there. Anyway, I'm sure it won't be long until people start complaining about Chinese influence in the oil patch. Absent a map of the pipeline, I've attached a picture that embodies all our darkest fears about PetroChina and Chinese state-owned energy companies in general.

1 comment:

  1. I am pretty sure that is the CEO of CNOOC.

    ReplyDelete