Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Canadian dollar dips below 70 cents US for the first time in nearly 13 years - @CdnPress 

Active rigs:

	1/12/2016	01/12/2015	01/12/2014	01/12/2013	01/12/2012
Active Rigs	54	156	192	182	200

RBN Energy: update on oil production coming out of the Gulf of Mexico; production increase in the gulf is offsetting the decline in shale production.

Remember: the Whiting documentary airs at 9:00 a.m. ET today.

Also, at the same site, an update on Canadian CBR due to denial of the Keystone XL. Link here.

Canadian crude oil is still making its way south into the U.S. despite the decision by the Obama administration to reject the project plan for TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. 

Most recently, Houston-based USD Group announced that it plans to double the capacity of its rail terminal in Hardisty, adding heavy crude oil, butane and propane to the mix of products it can load at the terminal.

The Hardisty terminal is relatively new, only having started operations in June 2014. It currently has the capacity to load up to two 120-railcar unit trains per day.

Crude oil is delivered to USD Group’s termian via pipeline from Gibson Energy’s Hardisty storage terminal, which holds 6 MMBO, according to USD Group.

The expansion would add capacity for an additional two 120-car unit trains per day, doubling the facilities loading capacity, reports Edmonton Journal. The expansion would supplement existing pipelines and “reduce transportation constraints of oil products in a cost-effective and environmentally responsible manner,” USD Group subsidiary USD Terminals Canada says in a project summary filed with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations

4 x 120 = 480 x 25K = 12,000K = 285K bopd.  The Keystone XL was to begin at Hardisty and would have handled about 800,000 bopd.

480 x 30K = 14400K = 350K bopd.

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Minnesota One Step Closer To A Monster Transmission Line To Back Up Intermittent / Redundant Wind Energy From North Dakota

For background on this story, see this post. Note the route of the huge transmission line that will cut through some of the prettiest landscape in the land of 10,000 lakes. This is to bring hydroelectric electricity in from Canada to back up intermittent (and redundant) wind farm electricity from North Dakota.

Today the Hibbing Daily Tribune is reporting that the project has received a recommendation from an administrative law judge to proceed with the transmission line.

The Minnesota Power’s Great Transmission Line that would help supply the company’s northeastern Minnesota customers with renewable energy has cleared an important hurdle.

An administrative law judge has recommended approval of a route permit for the line, which is designed to bring renewable hydroelectricity from Canada to northeastern Minnesota.

The 500-kilovolt, 220-mile line would run from the Canadian-U.S. border northwest of Roseau, Minn., to an expanded Blackberry electric substation east of Grand Rapids.

Administrative Law Judge Ann C. O’Reilly issued her findings of fact, conclusions and route recommendation for the project earlier this week.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) has final authority over selection of the eventual route. That decision is expected by March 2016.