Image: Brian Zinchuk/Pipeline News Relief for Canada’s oilpatch is gradually rolling down the tracks, with producers aiming for big volumes of crude by rail to counter their worst glut ever. A tally of plans from six producers including Cenovus Energy, Canadian Natural Resources and Imperial Oil Ltd. shows they’re looking to add about 270,000 bbls/d of exports on tank cars to potentially surpass 400,000 bbls/d by the middle of next year. Most of it is headed to the U.S. Gulf Coast. It’s a costly solution at a time when a shortage of pipeline capacity sent the price for heavy western Canadian crude to a record low of about $13 a barrel this week. The plans come after almost a year in which rail companies including Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. demanded multi-year contracts to invest in locomotives and workers, while producers tried to tough it out as they await for conduits to get built. Producers are giving in after being reluctant to commit to rail after court filings delayed two major pipeline projects that would relieve the glut: Trans Mountain’s expansion to Vancouver and the TransCanada Corp. Keystone XL that would ship crude to the […]
