Enbridge to partner in $68M crude oil delivery rail project
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
Project expected to handle 80,000 barrels per day, expandable to receive up to 160,000 bpd
CALGARY—Enbridge says it’s partnering up with a Pennsylvania energy firm to develop rail infrastructure to ship crude oil to Philadelphia-area refineries.
Through its U.S. subsidiary, Enbridge Rail (Philadelphia) L.L.C., Enbrdige has entered into an agreement with Canopy Prospecting Inc., to create the Eddystone Rail Company to jointly develop a unit-train facility and related local pipeline infrastructure to deliver Bakken and other light sweet crude oil to Pennsylvania’s largest city.
The project is expected to handle 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the third quarter of 2013, and can ultimately be expanded to receive up to 160,000 bpd for subsequent transport by barge or pipeline to nearby refineries as early as mid-2014.
“The Eddystone Rail Company will be the largest unit-train facility able to receive North Dakota Bakken and other light sweet crudes directly into Philadelphia area refineries” Canopy president Jack Galloway said in a statement.
According to Enbridge, it will own 75 per cent of the joint venture and serve as operator during construction and operation of the facility.
The total estimated capital cost of the project is approximately $68-million.
Project scope includes leasing portions of Exelon Generation’s Eddystone power generation facility and reconfiguring existing track to accommodate 120 car unit-trains, installing crude offloading equipment, refurbishing an existing 200,000 barrel tank and upgrading an existing barge loading facility.
Additional storage and pipelines connecting Eddystone to Philadelphia area refineries are under development.
“Rail is the fastest way to provide increased export capacity out of the Bakken, creating a near-term solution to transportation bottlenecks and the resulting crude oil pricing differentials,” Enbridge president of liquids pipelines Stephen Wuori.
Enbridge will proceed with customary environmental, local and regulatory approvals to facilitate in-service in the third quarter of 2013.
