Random Update On Enbridge Pipeline Activity In Minnesota -- Enbridge Projects Would Infuse More Than $2.75 Billion Into Local Economy

Clearbrook News is reporting:

While the company already has a large presence in the region, plans are in place to expand further. Enbridge has three major construction projects in the works and recently announced a fourth.

The Line 67 (Alberta Clipper) project along with its Sandpiper project will carry a combined cost of $2.75 billion.

The Line 67 upgrade Phase 1 project will expand the pipeline’s capacity 570,000 barrels per day of heavy oil from its current level of 470,000 bpd. Phase II would bring the pipeline to its full design capacity of 800,000 bpd. Pending regulatory approval, Phase I construction would begin in mid-2014 and Phase II would begin in mid-2015.

The company’s Sandpiper project would build a 610-mile interstate pipeline to bring growing supplies of crude oil from North Dakota to refineries in the U.S. and Canada. A 24-inch diameter line would run from Tioga, ND, to Clearbrook, MN, and then a 30-inch diameter line would run from Clearbrook to Superior. Permitting for the Sandpiper project is scheduled for completion later this year. Sandpiper’s in-service date is tentatively scheduled for 2016.

Sandpiper will largely (75 percent) follow existing pipeline routes. However, portions of existing line in Itasca County would be bypassed in favor of a southern route option through Park Rapids, if the company’s preferred route is permitted. Haase called this southern corridor “more constructible.”

The other two projects:

Haase also spoke briefly to the board about the company’s recently announced Line 3 replacement project. Although still in the planning stage, it would replace a line constructed in 1968 that runs across northern Minnesota. In addition, the company is completing construction on two crude oil tanks and piping upgrades at its Superior terminal.