Plains Justice Environmental Justice for the Great Plains Tar Sands US Infrastructure Development Paul Blackburn, J.D. Staff Attorney, Plains Justice 100 First Street Southwest Cedar Rapids, IA 52404 Tel. 319.362.2120 pblackburn@plainsjustice.org
Tar Sands and Transportation: United States Impacts Canadian tar sands projects impact US transportation systems in two broad ways: 1) A massive dedication of resources to create new infrastructure to transport tar sands crude oil; and 2) Production of transportation fuels via processes that result in substantially higher greenhouse gas emissions
This Presentation Looks Only at Options for Supply Action in the US US citizens can influence their governments with regard to both supply of tar sands oil to US markets and demand of tar sands oil by US markets This presentation looks only at supply-side options (not low carbon fuels, efficiency improvements, etc.)
A Transportation System: Pipelines Related to the Tar Sands
The 2 types of Tar Sands Oil Exported to the US: Heavy Crude and Syncrude Syncrude comes from tar sands mining operations. Processing of the mined tar sands produces a light crude oil that is ready to be pumped through a pipeline. Pipelines to ship syncrude are called either syncrude or light crude pipelines. Heavy crude (bitumen) generally comes from in situ extraction operations, wherein the tar sands are heated underground and then heavy crude is pumped out of the ground while hot. Before heavy crude can be pumped through a pipeline it must be mixed with diluent, otherwise it will be too thick to pump.
Tar Sands Mining Process
Tar Sands In Situ Process
Forecast of Canadian Crude to US: + 1.5 Million BPD by 2015
Forecast exports of Canadian crude to the Midwest: +1.4 Mbpd by 2015 = 2.5x more than now
Tar Sand Projects Operating, Under Construction or Approved for Construction before 2015 Location of Projects Athabasca Mining Upgraders (Capacity) Operating (bpd) Under Construction (bpd) Approved (bpd) Total O/C/A 2015 768,000 155,500 248,500 1,172,000 North Athabasca In Situ 140,000 68,000 100,000 308,000 South Athabasca In Situ 190,000 75,800 216,800 282,000 Cold Lake In Situ 258,000 20,000 72,000 350,000 Peace River In Situ 12,500 0 1,000 13,500 Under Const. + Approved Total 1,368,500 319,300 638,300 2,125,500 957,600 (~500k yet to permit)
To Export Another 1.5 Million BPD to the US by 2015, They Need... LOTS OF INFRASTRUCTURE 36 New or upgraded pipelines 12 New or upgraded refineries An untold number of refined product pipelines, rail lines, electrical transmission lines, roads, etc.
EIP: the Tar Sands Need 12 New, Expanded or Converted Refineries Summary Table of All Tar Sands Refinery Expansions, Additions and Conversions By State Refinery State Increased/New Capacity / Conversion (bpd) BP (Whiting, IN) Indiana 205,000 ConocoPhillips ( Wood River Refinery in IL combined with refinery in Borger, Texas) Illinois & Texas 150,000 Marathon Petroleum Company ( Garyville, LA) Louisiana 180,000 Marathon Petroleum Company (Detroit, MI ) Michigan 15,000 ConocoPhillips ( Billings, MT) Montana 13,000 Mandan, Hidasta and Arikara ( MHA ) Nation, Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, ND North Dakota 15,000 Northwest Refining, Northwestern ND North Dakota 50,000 Husky (Lima, OH ) Ohio 146,120 BP / Husky (Tulsa, OK ) Ohio 39,000 Sinclair (Tulsa, OK) Oklahoma 44,700 Hyperion Refining, LLC (Union County, SD) South Dakota 400,000 Murphy Oil USA, Inc. (Superior, WI) Wisconsin 200,000 Expansions, Additions and Conversions 1,457,820
Pipelines in Process: 36 New or Expanded Pipelines
An Example of Scale: Keystone Pipeline 2,000 mile pipeline to carry heated, thinned oil from Alberta tar sands to U.S. refineries 30 diameter from Canada to the NE/KS border and west to Illinois; 36 from the NE/KS border to Cushing, OK, operating at 1440 psi, shipping heavy sour crude Capable of delivering 590,000 barrels per day (25 million gallons per day) Keystone could fill the Exxon Valdez in 2.5 days, or fill 2,778 tanker trucks every day
Current Export Capacity: ~2 MBPD to US/~1.4 MBPD through Midwest To BC
Types of Pipeline Expansions New Pipelines Expanded Pipelines Reversed Pipelines Diluent Pipelines
In process NOW: New Border Crossing Heavy Crude Pipelines Enbridge Alberta Clipper 36 from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin with an initial capacity of 450,000 bpd that could be expanded to 800,000 bpd; approved by CA GIC in May 2008; Presidential Permit application submitted and EIS scoping underway; projected in service by 2010 TransCanada Keystone 30, could be expanded to 590,000 bpd, in service by? (law suit) Planned but no applications filed: TransCanada Keystone XL 36 700,000 bpd by 2012 Kinder Morgan Chinook/Maple Leaf 36 550,000 bpd by 2012 Altex Energy Alberta to Texas 36 1 million bpd by 2014
Proposed New Heavy Crude Pipelines Inside the US MinnCan 24 with an initial capacity of 165,000 bpd in 2009 expandable to 350,000 bpd Enbridge Southern Access (Superior, WI to Chicago) 36 pipeline that connects to the Alberta Clipper; initial capacity of 400,000 bpd expandable to 800,000 bpd; operational as of April 1, 2008 Line 6C Chicago to Michigan 36 400,000 bpd to expand transport to Ohio by 2012 Enbridge/Exxon Texas Access (IL to TX) 30 up to 550,000 bpd by 2011 Sunoco OK to TX 26 400,000 bpd by 2011
Proposed New Syncrude Pipelines inside the US Enbridge Light Sour Crude (LSC) 20 185,000 bpd to allow separate shipping of LSC by 12/08 Enbridge Mustang to Line 14 180,000 bpd light crude line to allow other lines to carry heavy crude by 2010 Sunoco, Buffalo to Philly 24 400,000 bpd by? Enbridge Pioneer 30 400,000 bpd by?
Proposed Expansions of Heavy Crude Pipelines in the US Enbridge Line 5 Expansion (Superior, WI to Sarnia, ON) adding drag reducing agent increases capacity by 50,000 bpd by early 2009 Enbridge Line 6B Debottleneck (Chicago to Sarnia) adding pumping stations and new storage tanks increases transport to the east by about 425,000 bpd by 2010 Exxon Pegasus IL to TX 30,000 bpd by 2009
Proposed Reversals of Existing Crude Oil Pipelines Enbridge Spearhead Reversed to flow north to south and increase in capacity by 65,000 bpd to a total capacity of 190,000 bpd Enbridge Sarnia-Montreal-Portland Reversal to allow shipping of ~200,000 bpd of tar sands crude to eastern Canada and for export overseas via Portland, Maine by 2010 BP Chicago to Cushing, OK Reversed to carry syncrude north to south, maintains capacity at 100,000 bpd Occidental Petroleum Centurion OK to TX Reversal of 16 line to carry 60,000 bpd by 2009
Diluent Pipelines
Why Are Diluent Pipelines Important? Shipping heavy tar sands crude requires that it be diluted with lighter hydrocarbons (pentanes+) often derived from natural gas liquids, otherwise the crude is too thick to pump To make one barrel of shippable heavy crude, the industry plans to mix one part diluent with three parts heavy crude Put another way, for each barrel of diluent not delivered to Canada, three barrels of tar sands crude cannot be shipped to the US
Diluent Pipelines Enbridge Southern Lights New 16 300,000 bpd line from Chicago area to MN by 2010, then reversal of existing line from MN to Alberta; approved by CA NEB; application approved by MPUC in June 2008; construction may be complete Capline/Chicap Use of existing pipelines to deliver up to 300,000 bpd of diluents to Southern Lights in Illinois
Pipeline Bottom Line If Alberta Clipper (up to 800,000 bpd) and Keystone (up to 590,000 bpd) are built, the industry will have successfully increased export capacity across the border to the US by almost 1.4 million bpd (compared to +1.5 million bpd planned increase in production) Full utilization of this capacity will require internal US crude oil pipeline capacity expansion + refineries and supporting infrastructure
STRATEGIC CHOICES (talk amongst yourselves)
Plains Justice Paul Blackburn 100 First Street Southwest Cedar Rapids, IA 52406 Tel. 319-362-2120 http://www.plainsjustice.org claseur@plainsjustice.org