April 25, 2014 [Business Financial Post] - Imperial Oil Ltd. said Thursday new regulations mandating the phase-out of unsafe railcars wouldn’t affect the Calgary-based company’s plan to ship oil sands production from a proposed terminal near Edmonton.
“All of the cars that we are procuring for that project will meet the new, higher standards,” chief executive Rich Kruger said following the company’s annual meeting in Calgary. “That was always our intention.”
The proposed Edmonton terminal, estimated to cost up to $250-million, is a joint venture with Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP. Its first phase would ship 100,000 barrels daily beginning in 2015, with potential to boost capacity to 250,000 barrels depending on market conditions.
Transport Canada this week ordered about 5,000 DOT-111 rail cars — the kind involved in last year’s deadly Lac Megantic, Que. disaster — removed from Canadian railways within 30 days. Another 65,000 of the cars must be removed or retrofitted within three years, the agency said.
