Mega-Storage Projects Scheduled For Canada -- April 21, 2015; New MacBook Selling Beyond All Expectations

Mega-storage projects scheduled for Canada. Platts is reporting:

The cost of constructing a crude oil and NGL storage tank in Alberta is about $85/b and $25/b respectively, said Steven Paget, a vice-president of institutional research with First Energy Capital.

At the end of 2014, total capacity at Hardisty and Edmonton (Alberta’s two main storage hubs) was estimated to be 22 million barrels and 15 million barrels respectively, according to Paget.

As a rule of thumb, total storage space in the hydrocarbons industry should ideally be the equivalent of five to eight days of production.

This means given Alberta’s combined oil sands and light oil output of nearly 2.7 million b/d there should be 13.5 million barrels to 21.6 million barrels of storage—well under the existing 37 million barrels.

However, with an ambitious long term forecast to double oil sands production to 4.7 million b/d by 2025, companies are tackling the storage issue with vigor, and cash.

Gibsons Energy is due to start up a new 500,000-barrel crude oil storage tank in Hardisty on the back of another 400,000-barrel tank that it completed in February at the same site. And it recently announced it received enough shipper support for another 900,000 b/d storage facility in Hardisty.

And then there’s the Keyera Energy and Kinder Morgan venture unveiled in late March of a 4.8-million barrel facility near Edmonton expected to start in 2017. The mega project is also expandable by another 1.8 million barrels.

More crude oil storage build-up is also in the works, including TransCanada’s 2.6- million barrel Keystone Hardisty Tank Terminal and another 350,000 barrel facility by Enbridge at Athabacsa.

These new project’s come on the back of Kinder Morgan and oil sands producer MEG Energy completing the construction of their 5.2- million barrel and the 900,000-barrel tank in Alberta in the recent past.

Located in the Canadian hinterland that has one of the world’s largest crude oil storage facilities and with nearly 95% of its output being exported south of the border through a largely uninterrupted and well-established network of delivery systems, construction of major crude oil storage facilities in Alberta had not been on the priority list.

Much more at the link which will probably be archived at the source. 

This tells me that the one-two punch (killing the Keystone and Saudi Arabia's decision to give away their oil at $50/bbl) has resulted in this interesting outcome: Saudi Arabia may be dealing with several years of $60 oil due to their own miscalculations.

Remember: this Canadian storage comes on top of at least a temporary 'maxing out' of capacity at Cushing. Consumers should be the winners. Certainly the refiners.

*****************************

Apple Page

Apple again reiterates its policy on Apple Watch sales but of interest is the word that the new MacBook is selling beyond all expectations.

From MacRumors:

The video also covered the MacBook, which has been highly limited even in first wave launch countries. Ahrendts said the response to the MacBook has been "overwhelming" and that it was one of Apple's best MacBook launches yet.

Demand for the Space Gray and Gold MacBooks was described as "off the charts," and she said MacBooks are rolling out to Apple Stores that do not currently offer them on display.

Both the Apple Watch and the MacBook are in very short supply. Apple Watch orders placed today won't ship out until June or later, and MacBook orders for standard configurations carry shipping estimates of four to six weeks.

The new MacBook is insane. As in insanely interesting. My first look, I said "eventually, but not today." It's slightly ahead of its time. One of the local Apple retail employees I really like said the same thing: he was really, really impressed with the new MacBook, probably his favorite version.

It is so thin, it a) had to give up a bit of battery life (only 9 hours); and, b) gave up every last port, except one which can do everything -- power and accessories. Plus, from that port, one can re-charge one's iPhone. I'm not sure about the Apple Watch but if not, that, too, will come. I rely heavily on the Sandisk port on my laptops so the lack of a Sandisk port on the new MacBook is problematic, but that was all that concerned me.

On another note, I doubt Tim Cook is happy with this huge miscalculation on the Apple Watch. I doubt Ms Ahrendts decided to do this video on her own; my hunch is she got a memo from Tim telling her to get ahead of this huge blunder on Apple's part with regard to the Apple Watch.

The demand/supply issue for the MacBook -- hard to say. I think they can ramp up easily on that -- there are very few choices: a) 3 colors; b) two specs based mostly on flash drive storage = 6 choices. On the other hand, it looks like there are 22 basic watch choices (with countless bands to choose from). 

Pundits, critics, analysts can bad-mouth Apple on the Apple Watch blunder, but its competitors certainly aren't going to point out that Apple can't keep up with demand.

Oh, all those kids that weren't interested in the Apple Watch (reported earlier); they saw the new MacBook -- space grey or gold.