Jan 21, 2011

Sinopec of China to Invest in $5.5 Billion Canada Pipeline, Enbridge Says

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the country's biggest refiner, joined a group investing more than $100 million in Enbridge Inc.'s proposed $5.5 billion pipeline to Canada's west coast, Enbridge said.

A group of Canadian producers and Southeast Asian refiners are matching Enbridge's costs to get through the regulatory process to approve the Northern Gateway pipeline, according to a transcript of a presentation by Enbridge Chief Executive Officer Patrick Daniel.

Sinopec, as China Petroleum is known, has indicated it is one of the funding partners, Daniel said in the transcript. He said he's unable to divulge the identify of the other companies. They have the right to take an equity stake and a share of the capacity of the pipeline, he said.

Enbridge has proposed piping as much as 525,000 barrels a day from Canada's oil sands to the nation's west coast, from where it would be shipped to Asia and the U.S.

Calls during office hours to the work and mobile numbers of Huang Wensheng, a Beijing-based spokesman for China Petroleum, weren’t answered.

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Who we are

Over the past 60 years, Enbridge has become a leader in the safe and reliable delivery of energy in North America and is proud to be recognized as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World.

We transport energy, operating the world's longest, most sophisticated crude oil and liquids transportation system. We have a growing involvement in the natural gas transmission and midstream businesses, and are expanding our interests in renewable and green energy technologies including wind and solar energy, hybrid fuel cells and carbon dioxide sequestration.

We distribute energy, owning and operating Canada's largest natural gas distribution company, and provide distribution services in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and New York State.

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May 28, 2010

Enbridge moves ahead with $5.5-billion pipeline

Enbridge filed its environmental application for the Northern Gateway oil pipeline Thursday and immediately ran afoul of opponents of the proposed $5.5-billion project.

Enbridge envisions a 1,172-kilometre twin pipeline system running between Edmonton and the British Columbia coastal town of Kitimat, as well as a tank terminal and marine shipping terminal in support of crude oil shipments from the Alberta oilsands.

The company issued a news release to announce it has filed with the National Energy Board an eight-volume application that provides "a comprehensive overview of the proposed project and its benefits."

"We take pride in our long-standing reputation as a safe pipeline operator and socially responsible company," Enbridge president Patrick Daniel said in the release, adding that the project "will be a model of world-class safety and environmental standards."

The company estimates economic benefits to include 62,700 person-years of construction employment, 1,150 long-term jobs and $2.6 billion in tax revenue.

One of the pipes would carry 525,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Edmonton to tankers at Kitimat while the other would carry 193,000 barrels of condensate per day from Kitimat to Edmonton for use in processing oilsands crude.

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January 21, 2011

Enbridge confirms China investor in Northern Gateway
Sinopec Corp. contributor to $100 million

Oil pipeline giant Enbridge Inc. confirmed China's Sinopec Corp. is one of the investors in its proposed $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline that will ship diluted bitumen 希釈ビチューメン　from Alberta to a marine terminal in Kitimat, British Columbia.

流動性のない高粘度のタール状原油を含む砂岩層を、オイルサンドという。
採取された原油は、粘性に応じてビチューメン、あるいは超重質油と呼ばれる。

Chief executive Pat Daniel, speaking Thursday at an investor conference in Whistler, B.C., backed a report earlier this week in the Financial Post revealing what the market had long suspected about the anonymous consortium which funded $100 million toward the project.

Enbridge had kept the participants under wrap, citing confidentiality agreements.

"It's a strong group of producers and refiners which we're not able to divulge," Daniel told the audience. "But one of them announced themselves, and that was Sinopec. So I guess we can now speak to them."

In the FP article, an executive of China's second-largest energy company said Sinopec indeed was involved in the consortium which funded part of the regulatory costs of building the controversial oil pipeline project.

The state-owned corporation also invested $4.65 billion US in Alberta's oilsands after buying a nine per cent stake in Syncrude Canada last year, adding to a stake in an undeveloped oilsand mine planned by Total SA

The Enbridge deal gave the investors the right to take capacity on the 525,000 barrel per day line, as well as a right to take equity, Daniel said.

Analysts were not surprised by the admission, noting several years ago Enbridge had indicated a number of Asian investors had joined the consortium as a potential future source of oil.

"If you think about the likely parties who want to lock in the oil supply, it's going to be the refiners," said Lanny Pendill, with Edward Jones. "And Sinopec is the largest refiner in China, so it wasn't a surprise to us."

The investment would not be China's first involvement with the Alberta-to-B.C. pipeline, which has been in the works since the mid-2000s.

PetroChina committed to buy 200,000 barrel per day of oil from the line back in 2005 but backed out two years later after producers failed to sign similar commitments to ship bitumen.

Progress on the 1,170-kilometre project has been stymied by lack of shipper interest, its political high-risk profile and most recently, heated opposition from environmental and First Nations groups.

Northern Gateway would run diluted bitumen from central Alberta, across the Rockies and northern B.C. to Kitimat, where up to tankers would move the resource to markets in Asia and North America.

Enbridge plans to build and operate the marine terminal, which could see more than 220 tankers a year load up and ply choppy waters currently under a moratorium banning tanker traffic.

Opposition in B.C. has been small in number but vocal and influential, primarily directed to the proposed influx of ships into the pristine area, Daniel said.

Also on Thursday, Enbridge said it had taken its Cushing, Oklahoma to Houston Monarch pipeline project out of the freezer and back onto the stove.

Interest in reviving the 350,000 barrel per day project came as oil shipments pile up at Cushing due to lack of outbound capacity, depressing prices at the hub, Daniel said.