Calgary-based Enbridge moves two-thirds of the oil in Canada, about two million barrels a day. And the Hardisty terminal, about 160 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, is second in size only to its operations in Cushing, Okla.
On Tuesday, Enbridge officially added 19 tanks to its existing 10-tank main-line operations. The new tanks, with a capacity of up to 530,000 barrels each, hold a total of 7.5 million barrels of oil.
Hardisty has become a hub for oil deliveries, with two Enbridge pipelines coming in– from Fort McMurray and from Edmonton–and several leaving, including the still-under-construction Alberta Clipper, which will deliver an initial 500,000 barrels a day to the U.S.
Across the street is competitor Trans Canada Pipelines’ terminal, which is the starting point for its soon-to-open Keystone pipeline, which will carry 500,000 barrels of bitumen a day to southern markets.
Art Meyer, Enbridge senior Vice President for oilsands projects, said the need for more capacity is driven by increasing oilsands production.
“We brought the first pipeline down to Hardisty from Fort McMurray in 1999, and as production has increased we have been increasing capacity. This is a market structure driven by the needs of the U.S. grid,” he said
With the oilsands a vast resource, Enbridge sees tremendous potential for expansion. It has $12 billion worth of projects in the planning stage.
Normally Enbridge would ship and mix crude in its 10-tank main-line facility. The new contract tanks allow shippers to hold their own product, and ship it when its makes the most economic sense to them. The same business model is used at Cushing and other large U.S. terminals.
A unique feature of the new terminal is tank heating. When the diluted bitumen enters the tank, it cools and becomes harder to send down the pipeline. The tanks will heat up the heavy product in about four days–even if it sits for months–and send it on its way. The bitumen moves at about walking speed down the pipelines, but must be at the correct viscosity to flow properly.
