Albertans keeping upgraders at home

Albertans have spoken in the most emphatic way — they want to prevent the export of raw bitumen to upgraders and refiners outside the province.

A poll done for the Edmonton Journal by Leger Marketing — conducted just two weeks after EnCana and ConocoPhillips announced their joint venture to send 400,000 barrels per day of bitumen to Illinois and Texas refineries — found that 84 percent of Edmonton-area residents want producers required to build upgraders in Alberta.

A spokesman for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers told the Journal the poll results would have been the same if the survey had covered all of Alberta.

But 62 percent of the respondents, in keeping with Alberta’s pro-business attitudes, said market forces should be free to determine upgrader locations.

Leger executives said the results, rather than being contradictory, mirrored annoyance at the EnCana-ConocoPhillips deal, but showed Albertans trust the industry to promote upgrader projects in the province. In fact, a CAPP study showed about C$43 billion is committed to building 14 upgraders in Alberta.

If all of those plans proceed, more than 80 percent of Alberta bitumen will be processed in the province as output grows to 3 million-3.5 million barrels per day by 2015, CAPP said.

—Gary Park