Fort Saskatchewan

Current analysis of how Western Canadian producers can find supplies to meet a growing need for diluent material to blend with their heavy crude and bitumen suggest that up to 485 Mb/d of imports will be needed by 2019. But there is a growing belief that increased production of condensate from the Montney and Duvernay shale plays in Western Alberta and British Columbia will supply far more diluent than previously expected – reducing that import requirement significantly. Today we look at plans by Pembina to ship increased diluent supplies to Edmonton from domestic Canadian sources.

The Edmonton region in Alberta is home to a growing crude gathering hub that brings in bitumen crude from the oil sands region 250 miles to the north. In order to get that crude to Edmonton and to markets in the U.S., producers must first blend it with diluent range materials so that it can flow in pipelines. In the early days much of the diluent required in the oil sands was delivered by rail and truck but now a growing “parallel” pipeline network is developing to source and distribute supplies as new production comes online. Today we look at the Edmonton diluent distribution system.