On Thursday July 2 the Government of Canada, along Alberta’s provincial government, announced a proposal for a heavy crude oil pipeline capable of transporting more than 1 MMb/d from Bruderheim, AB (near Edmonton) to a deepwater port at Roberts Bank just south of Vancouver, BC (see map below).
On Monday May 25 Pembina Pipeline Corporation announced it is proceeding with the Heartland Extraction Plant, an upsized and renamed evolution of the Yellowhead Extraction Plant first proposed in early 2025.
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.
