Project description
Keystone Pipeline, a partnership between TransCanada and ConocoPhillips, will measure 2,148 miles from Hardisty, Alberta to Cushing, Okla., and Patoka, Ill. The Canadian portion of the pipeline, from Hardisty to the Canada/U.S. Border, entails converting 537 miles of existing Canadian pipeline from natural gas to crude oil transmission service and constructing 232 miles of pipeline, pump stations, and terminal facilities at Hardisty, Alberta.
The U.S. portion of the project calls for constructing 1,379 miles of pipeline and several pump stations along the route.
The initial capacity of the pipeline will be 435,000 barrels per day and will increase to 590,000 barrels per day. Ultimately, TransCanada would like to increase the capacity to 1.1 million by 2012. Commercial operations for the first phase began in June 2010.
Keystone has contracts with shippers totaling 495,000 barrels per day with an average term of 18 years.
The new pipeline will be 30 inches (76 centimeters) in diameter from Alberta to Illinois. The diameter will increase to 36 inches (91 centimeters) from the Nebraska/Kansas border to Cushing, Okla. While the industry standard of buried pipeline is 24 inches, the Keystone Pipeline will be buried 48 inches underground.
The pipeline expansion and new construction is expected to cost $7 billion, but the total Keystone Project investment will be approximately $12.2 billion.
TransCanada is developing, constructing, and operating Keystone.
Bakken Marketlink Project
On Sept. 13, 2010, TransCanada launched a binding open season for Keystone and Keystone XL capacity geared toward producers in the growing Bakken Shale play in the Williston Basin. TransCanda has proposed allocating 100,000 b/d of contract capacity on Keystone from Baker, Montana, to Cushing, Okla., and on Keystone XL from to Port Arthur, Texas. In effect, Bakken producers would have a direct link to the Cushing, Okla., oil storage hub and to Gulf Coast refining facilities.
TransCanada proposes building piping, booster pumps, meter manifolds, and two terminals -- one at Baker and another at Cushing. Two of the three storage tanks at Baker would each be capable of storing 250,000 barrels of oil from third-party pipelines and terminals. The third, 100,000-barrel-capacity tank at Baker would be used for operational purposes. The two tanks at the Cushing terminal, each a capacity of 250,000 barrels, would be used for delivery batch accumulation and would link to third-party pipelines and tank farms.
The estimated cost of facilities proposed for the Bakken Marketlink Project is $140 million, and TransCanada anticipates the project to begin service in the first quarter of 2013. The open season period is set to expire on November 10, 2010.