Keystone left behind as Canadian crude pours into U.S.

Delays of the Keystone XL pipeline are providing little obstacle to Western Canadian oil producers getting their crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast, with shipments set to more than double next year. The volume of Canadian crude processed at Gulf Coast refineries could climb to more than 400,000 barrels a day in 2015 from 208,000 in August, according to Jackie Forrest, vice president of Calgary-based ARC Financial Corp. The increase comes as Enbridge Inc.'s Flanagan South and an expanded Seaway pipeline raise their capacity to ship oil by as much as 450,000 barrels a day. Canadian exports to the Gulf rose 83 percent in the past four years. The expansion shows Canadians are finding alternative entry points into the U.S. while the Keystone saga drags on. In the latest chapter, a Democratic senator and a Republican representative are seeking votes in their chambers to set the project in motion. The two are squaring off in a runoff election for a Senate seat from Louisiana, a state where support for the project is strong. "Keystone is kind of old news," Sandy Fielden, director of energy analytics at Austin, Texas-based consulting company RBN Energy, said Nov. 12 in an email. "Producers have moved on and are looking for new capacity from other pipelines." TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL, which would transport Alberta's heavy oil sands crude to refineries on the Gulf, has been held up for six years, awaiting Obama administration approval. Energy companies in Canada, including Suncor Energy Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., produce crude from thick oil sands in remote areas of northern Alberta. The companies want pipelines and rail networks expanded so they can export more of their product, which has sold for an average $20-a-barrel discount to the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate over the past year. cComments Got something to say? Start the conversation and be the first to comment. Add a comment 0 Canada sent about 54,000 barrels a day to the Gulf of Mexico by rail in the first half of 2014, said Forrest at Arc Financial, which is a private equity management company that invests in energy companies...more