“Given the changing energy landscape in the province, we are assessing options available to ensure safe and reliable supply for our valued customers. One option includes investing in existing assets, such as our Woodside facility,” said Samantha Robinson, Irving Oil’s director of public affairs in an email to CBC News.

“Not surprised at all…Irving wants to use their facility as a depot for their own product on their own tankers,” says Mac Mackay, author of Shipfax, a blog about harbour activities.

Irving Oil shut down its marine fuelling operation at Woodside in 2001.

With the Imperial Oil refinery closing and converting to a depot next door, Irving has applied to the Nova Scotia government seeking approval to restart its own storage facility which includes a large wooden dock, pipelines and tank farms.

“The (Imperial) oil docks are frequently occupied and if an Irving tanker arrives it might have to wait and that’s inconvenient,” says Mackay.

He says Irving is connected to the Imperial refinery via pipeline and the two companies once exchanged product, but those benefits disappeared with the 2013 shut down. Now Irving Oil wants more control over its operations, he says.

“Getting access to their own storage facility, dropping off refined product for local use, that is the main objective, to keep moving,” Mackay tells CBC News.

60 Day Review Underway

The Nova Scotia Department of Environment says it received the Irving Oil application to reactivate and upgrade its tankage and fuel storage facility at 460 Pleasant Street on Sept. 10, 2014.

The Department says Irving has secured required permission for right of way crossings from CN, the City of Halifax and the provincial Department of Transportation.

A 60 day review of the project is now underway.

“If the application is approved, it would include terms and conditions to ensure the environment is protected,” department spokesperson Heather Fairbairn wrote in an email to CBC News.

Irving has told the department the project can be handled under the Environment Act and should not be subject to the Pipeline Act which would put it under the scrutiny of the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.

Irving Oil added in its statement: “If and when we move forward with a project in relation to this facility, community engagement will be a key part of our process.”