Wildfires erupt in Canada crude patch in threat to oil sands
One 7-acre fire is within about 6 miles of MEG Energy Corp.’s Christina Lake site, which produced almost 100,000 barrels a day in May.
Canadian Enbridge Inc. (NYSE,TSE:ENB) and Enterprise Products Partners LP have nearly completed work on the Seaway pipeline to increase its capacity from 150,000 to 400,000 barrels per day, reports Fuelfix.
The pipeline which will move oil north, from Freeport, Texas, near Houston, to the massive oil storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma. But late last year, the companies announced they were reversing the flow due to Canadian oil sands and U.S. oil production creating a surplus at that spot.
The reversed Seaway will initially be able to carry 150,000 barrels per day, but with the ongoing additions and improvements, capacity will make it able to move 400,000 barrels per day by early next year and it should help alleviate some of the inventory overhand in Cushing.
Canada exports 2 million barrels of oil per day to the U.S. and almost all of it ends up at Cushing – the pricing point for US crude – where inventories have been piling up and refining capacity is limited.
Alberta production is set to more than double to 3.7 million barrels by 2025. Production in the U.S., particularly from the Bakken basin in North Dakota, will see the country ramp up current output of 7.8 million barrels/day to 10.9 million barrels over the next few years.
