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Parallel Lines – The Diluent Trail Across Canada – Part 5 – Inter Pipeline and Plains Canada Midstream

With Western Canadian oil sands bitumen output increasing rapidly, producers need more diluent to blend with their production so that it can flow to market in pipelines. That means delivering diluent to remote locations as far as 250 miles northwest of Edmonton. Smaller oil sands projects typically get their diluent delivered by rail or truck but pipeline infrastructure is being built out for larger projects as their production comes online. Inter Pipeline (IPL) diluent delivery volumes on their Polaris pipeline at the end of 2013 were just 20 Mb/d. By 2017 that volume could be to 1.2 MMb/d. Today we detail IPL and Plains build out plans.