Enbridge Inc. and Tundra Energy Marketing Ltd. are working together on rail terminal to bring growing light oil production from Saskatchewan, Manitoba and North Dakota to Ontario and U.S. Midwest market by rail and pipeline.
Under a memorandum of understanding announced April 16, each company will own half of a loading terminal near Cromer, Man. The facility will be capable of loading up to 60,000 barrels a day into rail cars providing interconnection with Enbridge’s Bakken Pipeline Expansion Project, Enbridge Pipeline (Saskatchewan) Inc. and Tundra’s Manitoba gathering systems to move Midale, Light Sour Blend and North Dakota Bakken oil through the facility.
The facility will also have access to trucked-in volumes and tank storage capabilities.
Tundra will build and operate the facility and rail service will be provided by CN Rail.
The terminal, previously announced by Tundra, is being built in two phases.
The first 30,000-barrel-per-day phase is under construction and expected to be in service by July 1. It will receive crude from trucks and Tundra’s existing pipeline network.
The second phase will expand the facility by another 30,000 barrels per day and connect up with Enbridge’s pipeline network in the Bakken, an oil-rich rock formation underlying parts of North Dakota, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Montana, as well as Tundra’s gathering system in Manitoba.
Enbridge’s participation will depend on whether it can get enough customers to commit to the project.
“This project continues Tundra’s commitment to providing infrastructure for producers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan to enhance their options for marketing and storing their production,” said Tundra President Bryan Lankester.
Tundra Energy Marketing handles crude oil on behalf of producers in the Williston Basin, including its parent company, Tundra Oil & Gas Partnership, which has been an active driller in the area for the past 32 years.
Tundra Oil & Gas is a wholly-owned business of Winnipeg-based James Richardson & Sons, Ltd., a privately-owned, family company established in 1857. JRSL is a multi-disciplined enterprise with operations in agriculture, food processing, financial services, property management and energy exploration.
Calgary-based Enbridge, which employs 10,000 people, is a major transporter of energy in Canada and the United States, where it operates the world’s longest crude oil and liquids transportation system. The company also has a significant and growing involvement in natural gas gathering, transmission and midstream businesses, and an increasing involvement in power transmission. As a distributor of energy, Enbridge owns and operates Canada’s largest natural gas distribution company, and provides distribution services in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and New York State.
As a generator of energy, Enbridge has interests in close to 1,000 megawatts of renewable and alternative energy generating capacity and is expanding its interests in wind and solar energy, geothermal and hybrid fuel cells.
—Petroleum News Bakken
