Alberta News

The first tanker carrying crude from the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline is expected to load at the Port of Vancouver in the second half of May, the company building the project said on Tuesday.The expanded pipeline, which will carry an extra 600,000 barrels per day of oil from Alberta to Canada's Pacific coast, will begin transporting crude on May 1 with final line fill completed in early May, Trans Mountain Corp said in an email.(Reuters - Reporting by Nia Williams in British Columbia; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Talks in Pacific Canada between striking dock workers and their employers have resumed after four days away from the negotiation table, a statement on Saturday by the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) showed.The BCMEA and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU Canada) met on Saturday, supported by federal mediators, the statement said. The talks had stalled on Tuesday and the two sides broke off negotiations.Some 7,500 port workers went on strike on July 1 for higher wages…

Belgium-based shipowner Exmar is partnering up with a Canadian fertilizer company to build jointly develop and build a low-carbon, ammonia-fueled vessel which they aim to deploy as early as 2025."Partners for over three decades in transporting ammonia globally, Nutrien is one of the world’s largest producers of low-carbon ammonia and is a leading player and innovator in the transportation of liquefied gas products," Exmar said."Nutrien and EXMAR support the decarbonization of shipping and the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Green House Gas (GHG) Strategy to reduce emissions.

Berne, Ind.-based portable sectional barge manufacturer Poseidon Barge said it has hired Jerome Lemanowicz as East Coast territory sales manager, to fill the position left by the transfer of Carl Piedmont from the Northeast to the West Coast.Located in New Jersey, Lemanowicz's territory includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Maryland, Delaware, Washington D.C., Montreal, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova…

Canada will spend C$320 million ($238.56 million) to support its offshore oil industry in Newfoundland and Labrador, which has struggled as coronavirus pandemic travel restrictions reduced demand, the government said on Friday.The funds are intended to support jobs and to lower greenhouse gas emissions from crude production, and could be used for maintenance, upgrades and environmental services, Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan said St. John's.The money falls short of requests from the industry…

On July 20, the tanker Cabo de Hornos delivered an estimated 450,000 barrels of crude oil to the Irving Oil refinery’s Canaport storage facilities in Saint John, N.B.What made Cabo de Hornos’s delivery different was that it was the first time crude oil had arrived in Saint John by ship from Alberta. It came via the Trans Mountain pipeline to the Westbridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, B.C., and then through the Panama Canal.By the end of April next year, a second tanker will arrive at Canaport carrying 350,000 to one million barrels of Western Canadian crude oil. In this case, the oil will have come via pipeline from Alberta to a crude oil exporting terminal in Texas or Louisiana.For most of the Saint John refinery’s 50 years of operation…

OPEC, Russia and other allies outlined plans on Thursday to cut their oil output by more than a fifth and said they expected the United States and other producers to join in their effort to prop up prices hammered by the coronavirus crisis.But the group, known as OPEC+, said a final agreement was dependent on Mexico signing up to the pact after it balked at the production cuts it was asked to make. Discussions among top global energy ministers will resume on Friday.The planned output curbs by OPEC+ amount to 10 million barrels per day (bpd) or 10% of global supplies…

A latest research revealed that the upstream sector accounted for the bulk of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the global oil and gas industry in 2019, generating some high-value transactions during the process.According to GlobalData's theme report, ‘M&A in Oil and Gas – 2020’, the acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum by Occidental Petroleum in April 2019 for a purchase consideration of US$57bn was the highlight of oil and gas M&A activity last year, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.Ravindra Puranik, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, said: “In 2019, the upstream sector, more specifically the US shale plays, witnessed the highest deal activity in the oil and gas industry.

Pieridae Energy moved closer to building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal on Canada's East Coast after taking ownership of fields from Royal Dutch Shell which will feed gas into the plant, the company said.The Goldboro LNG terminal would be the first on Canada's East Coast and compete with the growing number of plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast, hoping its shorter distance to Europe and further west will help sell its LNG by cutting shipping costs.Pieridae said in a statement late on Thursday it had closed a C$190 million ($145 million) acquisition of Shell's gas assets in Alberta's Foothills region, giving it most of the gas…

A Canadian company has loaded a test cargo of solid bitumen onto a vessel destined for a refinery in China, the latest effort by the energy industry to avoid congested export pipelines and find new ways to export more oil sands crude.Calgary, Alberta-based Melius Energy loaded 130 barrels of neat bitumen, similar in consistency to a hockey puck, onto a 20-foot shipping container in Edmonton, Alberta, and transported it by rail to the Port of Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia.

Canadian energy company has negotiated extensions of the key deadlines under its 20-year agreement with German energy trader Uniper.These include expected commercial deliveries of  LNG gas to Uniper to start between November 30, 2024 and May 31, 2025, and the extension of the deadline to make a positive financial investment decision (FID) for the company’s proposed Goldboro LNG facility to September 30, 2020.The 20-year agreement with Uniper is for half the liquefied natural gas produced at Goldboro or 5 mmtpa (million tonnes per annum).“These extensions allow us to complete the work needed to make a final investment decision for the Goldboro Project,” said Pieridae CEO Alfred Sorensen.

The first Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal (RIPET) in Canada was inaugurated and SAAM's new tug, the Tsmishian Warrior, was christened.The tug will provide services at the terminal, which is owned by the Canadian company Altagas —leader in energy infrastructure in North America— and the dutch firm Vopak.“SAAM closed a contract with RIPET, which included construction of this new tug. Two other tugs from our Canadian fleet will be deployed to support operations at the terminal. This long-term agreement is a milestone for our company and we are making the best technology available to support gas exports, especially to Asia,” commented SAAM’s CEO…

Canada's National Energy Board (NEB) regulator recommended on Friday that Ottawa approve expansion of the government-owned Trans Mountain oil pipeline, but made new, nonbinding recommendations to mitigate harm to Pacific Ocean killer whales and the environment.The pipeline is in the national interest as it will create jobs and give Canadian oil access to more markets, the NEB said in a report. But expanding it is likely to significantly harm the killer whale population off the coast of British Columbia and increase greenhouse gas emissions from ships…

Weighing over 800 ton - roughly four times the weight of a blue whale -,  and spanning over 300 ft., the splitter vessel is the biggest load to ever be moved on Alberta's highways.On the evening of January 6th Mammoet began the transport for the giant splitter vessel. The vessel left Dacro Industries, where it was constructed, and began it’s 3 day transport journey from Edmonton to Fort Saskatchewan, AB.The splitter vessel is a key part of the process at Inter Pipeline’s Heartland Petrochemical Complex where propane will be converted into recyclable plastic pellets, known as polypropylene, which will then be used to make items such as computers, medical equipment and food storage containers.

Canada's energy-rich province of Alberta is in talks to buy rail cars to transport 120,000 barrels per day of crude oil and expects a deal to conclude within weeks, Premier Rachel Notley said on Wednesday.Notley, who says the cars are needed to help deal with a glut of oil that has slashed the price of Alberta oil, told a business audience in Ottawa she was disappointed the federal government was not helping fund the purchase.Full pipelines have stranded much of Western Canada's expanding crude output, driving down the price U.S. refineries are willing to pay.

ENTREC Corporation, a heavy haul transportation and crane solutions provider, is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of Capstan Hauling .Based in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Capstan is a leading provider of heavy haul transportation services to the oil and natural gas industry in north-west Alberta and north-east B.C. Capstan has approximately 45 employees and lease operators and operates an extensive equipment fleet valued in excess of $9.0 million.Capstan’s fleet consists of mobile cranes, picker trucks, winch trucks and a wide variety of multi-wheeled trailers.“With our outlook improving for the oil and natural gas industry in western Canada, this acquisition is very timely for ENTREC,” said John M.

The Coast Guard has developed two separate mitigation system prototypes specifically designed for inland and offshore environments and tested them in the Kalamazoo River and Lake Huron.Whenever there is a need for oil, there will always be a risk of oil spills. This is no less true for bituminous sands, commonly known as oil sands or tar sands. Oil sands are mostly found in Alberta, Canada, and comprised of bitumen, sand, clay and water. They are typically viscous, with a texture similar to peanut butter.

A Russian-flagged passenger vessel that went aground in the Canadian Arctic last week has been refloated and is in stable condition.The 117-meter, 6,230 gt polar expedition cruise ship Akademik Ioffe had about 160 people on board when it ran aground in the western Gulf of Boothia on the morning of August 24.Canadian operator One Ocean Expeditions said it diverted Ioffe’s sister vessel, Akademik Sergey Vavilov, to assist. By August 25, all passengers disembarked by zodiac onto Sergey Vavilov for transport to Kugaaruk, Nunavut, before traveling to Edmonton, Alberta for flights home. No injuries were reported.Akademik Ioffe reportedly suffered some damage, but the severity is unknown.

There’s a shipbuilding resurgence underway in Canada that’s being driven by a long-term multibillion dollar government initiative to rebuild the federal fleet of Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard vessels and breathe new life into the country’s shipbuilding industry. Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards is an active player.Under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), the Vancouver, B.C. shipbuilder was selected in 2011 to deliver several types of large non-combat vessels for the Navy and Coast Guard…

Axpo, a Swiss utility and energy trader, said on Thursday it was in talks for a 10-year supply deal with a Canadian company planning to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.A sales and purchase agreement would boost the chances that Pieridae Energy would decide to build the C$10 billion ($7.6 billion) Goldboro project, which would be the first LNG export terminal on Canada's East Coast.Canada is rich in oil and gas but has yet to export major shipments of LNG to Asia from its West Coast or across the Atlantic from its East Coast."Under the term sheet with Pieridae Energy, Axpo will purchase LNG from Train 2 of the Goldboro liquefaction facility and sell it across Europe…

Aberdeen-based oil field technology firm Deep Casing Tools (DCT), which specialises in the design and manufacture of casing and completion tools, has agreed a pact with a Canadian distributor, ProTorque Connection Technologies (PTCT).The partnership with ProTorque, a tubular running service business, will see Deep Casing Tools re-enter the Canadian market, which historically was a successful region for the company.Deep Casing Tools previously had an office in Alberta, Canada, but during the more challenging times of the oil and gas industry downturn and a reduction in drilling activity, took the decision pull out of the region.Following…

An Aframax tanker is scheduled to deliver the largest shipment of crude oil from Vancouver to China since January 2015 later this month, Thomson Reuters trade flow data show.For years, Canadian officials have pushed for an escalation in crude exports to rapidly growing Asian markets, but companies in the oil-rich Alberta have limited capacity to move crude to the nation's western coastline.That makes Canadian crude exports from Vancouver to Asia rare, but shipments have picked up in recent months, with oil tankers to China, Thailand and South Korea departing in April and July. Most of the crude shipped from Vancouver - which has limited export capacity - is carried to the U.S.

The oilfield trucking provider Mullen Group has announced the closing of the acquisition of  hydro excavation company Canadian Hydrovac (CHL). CHL is a private company owned by Dan Shemanchuk which is based in Sherwood Park, Alberta. CHL is an industry leader in providing hydrovac services to the midstream, pipeline, construction and municipal sectors of western Canada. In addition to operating from its head office in the refinery complex of the greater Edmonton region and Alberta's Industrial Heartland, CHL has additional operating branches in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia and Saskatchewan. The Company's workforce consists of approximately 80 skilled employees and its fleet consists of over 50 specialized pieces of equipment including: hydrovac units…