Oil Sands Infrastructure
Oil Sands Infrastructure – Existing
The 540 km (335 mile), 30-inch (762 mm) diameter Athabasca Pipeline, is designed to transport crude oil from the Athabasca region of Alberta, south to the Enbridge Mainline at Hardisty. The pipeline originates at Enbridge’s Athabasca Terminal, just south of Suncor’s facility in Fort McMurray. The Athabasca Terminal contains 3 million barrels of tankage. Over time, additional receipt points and laterals have been added to accommodate injections from EnCana’s Christina Lake project, Petro-Canada’s McKay River project, the Total/Conoco Surmont project, and the Opti/Nexen Long Lake project.
The 378 km (235 mile), 30-inch (762 mm) diameter Waupisoo Pipeline came into service June 1, 2008. The Waupisoo Pipeline originates at the Cheecham Terminal (100 km south of Fort McMurray), interconnects with the Athabasca Pipeline, and moves volumes south to the Enbridge Terminal in Edmonton.
Oil Sands Infrastructure – Under Development
Enbridge Pipelines (Athabasca) Inc. has been selected by Imperial Oil Limited and ExxonMobil to construct a pipeline between the Kearl Oil Sands Project and the Enbridge Cheecham Terminal. The proposed Woodland Pipeline is needed to connect the first phase of production to existing pipeline transportation systems.
The Cheecham Terminal is approximately 140km south of the Kearl Oil Sands Project.
Oil Sands Infrastructure – Potential
Enbridge continues to work with Fort Hills to provide both a blend and a diluent pipeline solution between the Fort Hills mine site and Edmonton.
Both the Athabasca Pipeline and the Waupisoo Pipeline are expandable by adding relatively inexpensive pumping capacity.
A new industry diluent pipeline from Edmonton to Cheecham is being discussed with potential anchor shippers.
Oil Sands Industry Diluent Pipeline Project
Anticipated increase in diluent demand to meet bitumen blending requirements for transportation of crude from oil sands mining and in-situ projects results in the need for additional pipeline capacity for diluent from Edmonton. The Industry Diluent Pipeline is intended to offer contracts flexibility in terms of duration, start up and the ability to match project timing and phased approach. The pipeline is designed with initial capacity and expansion capability to be able to connect with the Southern Lights pipeline and CRW pools at Edmonton and terminate in the Fort McMurray area via the Cheecham terminal. This routing facilitates service to both north and south Athabasca Bitumen production projects.
Enbridge is currently finalizing the Industry Diluent Pipeline project and will be talking to potential shippers to gather input and support for this project.