TransCanada could deliver two million bbls/day of conventional crude and upgraded bitumen long before 2025 to a central Montreal “hub” by converting part of their natural gas mainline.

A Montreal “hub” would set domestic crude oil market pricing for eastern Canada. It would physically direct 800,000 bbls/d of crude to Ontario and Quebec refineries to displace foreign imports and another 600,000 bbls/d with a new pipeline to refineries and safe, deep-water ports at Saint John and Dartmouth for export as crude or refined products. And more than 600,000 bbls/d of crude or refined products could be exported to the U.S. eastern seaboard by reversing the Portland, Maine to Montreal pipeline and by expanding Enbridge’s Line 9 from Montreal to Sarnia.

These pipelines radiating from a Montreal “hub” could provide the nexus for a petro-chemical industry in Quebec.

A further 600,000 bbls/d of conventional crude and upgraded bitumen, not raw bitumen diluted with condensate, could be shipped from Alberta to a relocated and expanded Chevron refinery and marine terminal at Tsawwassen B.C. for much safer and less environmentally risky export via an expanded TransMountain pipeline.

This “Canada-First” Canadian Energy Strategy is the means to deliver the benefits from the oil sands to all Canadians sought by Premier Redford.

There is no need to pipeline and ship by tanker a single barrel of environmentally hazardous and economically unacceptable condensate-diluted raw bitumen via the proposed Keystone XL, Northern Gateway or TransMountain pipelines to allow unfettered growth of oil sands production.

Mike Priaro

919 Canaveral Cres SW
Calgary AB T2W 1N3
403-281-2156

Mike Priaro, B.Eng.Sc.(Chem.Eng.), a former member of APEO and APEGGA, now semi-retired, worked in facilities, production, operations and reservoir engineering, as an engineering consultant, and in engineering management in Alberta’s oil patch for 25 years for companies such as Amoco and Petro-Canada. He worked the historic Turner Valley oilfield and brought in under-balanced drilling technology to drill out and complete several of the highest deliverability gas wells ever in Canada at Ladyfern in B.C. He co-authored ‘Advanced Frac Fluids Improve Well Economics’ in Schlumberger’s Oilfield Review and developed the course material for the ‘Advanced Production Engineering’ course at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Mike Priaro

919 Canaveral Cres SW

Calgary AB T2W 1N3

403-281-2156