Terasen says Asians among backers

Terasen Pipelines, in its battle with rival Enbridge to ship Alberta oil sands production to Asia, says it has potential Asian customers among 17 parties who are interested in a C$570 million expansion of Terasen’s existing crude oil pipeline to Vancouver.

It announced Jan. 31 that it will take the next step towards increasing capacity on the Trans Mountain line to 300,000 barrels per day by 2008 from the current 225,000 bpd based on informal support from oil producers, refiners and buyers.

Legally binding shipping contracts will be signed this summer and until then Terasen will not disclose the names of the 17 companies, a spokesman said.

However, he said Terasen has been in talks with Asian interests about a possible doubling of Terasen’s pipeline network to Burnaby, or a new pipeline to deepwater tanker sites at Prince Rupert or Kitimat. Enbridge has said it is close to striking a deal with Sinopec or PetroChina and is also in discussions with prospective Japanese and Korean customers to fill 80 percent of its planned 400,000 bpd Gateway pipeline to either Kitimat or Prince Rupert.

Terasen President Rich Ballantyne said in a statement that “existing and new customers have indicated that the (Trans Mountain project) offers the right solution to a West Coast pipeline expansion.”

The Terasen spokesman said his company’s decision to proceed to the next phase of pipeline expansion raises its hopes of locking up the right to build all of the new pipeline capacity from Alberta to the British Columbia coast.

—Gary Park