Home » News » Enbridge weighs new crude oil pipeline to lucrative U.S. Gulf Coast (Enbridge)
News
Enbridge weighs new crude oil pipeline to lucrative U.S. Gulf Coast (Enbridge)
News Articles | The Canadian Press | October 05, 2010
Read the full article on the originating site
CALGARY _ Just months after dealing with high-profile oil leaks, Enbridge Inc. says it´s considering building a new pipeline to the lucrative U.S. Gulf Coast.
Stephen Wuori, the company´s president for liquids pipelines, says the Monarch project would connect a huge, oversupplied storage hub at Cushing, Okla. to refineries in the Houston area.
Monarch could have a daily capacity of up to 350,000 barrels of light oil.
Enbridge rival TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) is already in the midst of expanding its Keystone crude pipeline to the Gulf Coast. U.S. environmental groups and legislators have voiced opposition to that project, called Keystone XL.
Enbridge itself has been under fire in recent months for a pipeline leak that spilled hundreds of thousands of litres of oil into a southern Michigan waterway, followed by another leak near Chicago.
Meanwhile, the company is also looking to tap into attractive Asian markets through its $5.5-billion Northern Gateway proposal, which would connect oilsands crude to tankers along West Coast.
Northern Gateway faces fierce opposition from environmentalists and First Nation communities in northern British Columbia.
Ahead of Enbridge´s investor day Tuesday, campaigners with Forest Ethics sent briefing notes to analysts and bondholders questioning the business case for the Northern Gateway pipeline.
“Enbridge´s Northern Gateway proposal poses unprecedented risks to the company,” the group said in its utive summary.
Forest Ethics said a legal case by B.C. First Nations groups was “almost guaranteed,” and there has been strong political opposition to the project as well.
“Enbridge´s recent oil spills, as well as the high risk of an oil spill to the coast, underscores the need for a liability and financial risk assessment from the company,” it said.
Tagged with: pipeline, enbridge, gulf coast
