Last week, Canadian government-owned pipeline operator Trans Mountain revised standards for accepting crude oil on its recently expanded network, after buyers raised concerns about crude arriving on the line, as indicated in a regulatory document.
The U.S. West Coast refining market is expected to be a major outlet for Canadian heavy oil shipped via the Trans Mountain pipeline extension, called TMX. But ten companies and refiners, including Chevron and Valero Energy, told a pipeline regulator that crude quality specifications could deter them from buying oil.
Last week, Trans Mountain said it would replace the existing pool of “Low TAN (Total acid number) Dilbit” with a pool of “Pacific Cold Lake”, or bitumen diluted with crude whose density is less than 800 kilograms. per cubic meter.
The acidity of Pacific Cold Lake and Pacific Dilbit will be limited to a maximum of 1.1 milligrams of potassium hydroxide (KOH) per gram, up from the previous limit of 1.3 mg KOH/g, according to the filing . High levels of acidity can corrode process equipment and cause damage.
Trans Mountain has also set vapor pressure limits for its Pacific Cold Lake, Pacific Dilbit and Synthetic Bitumen crude oil fields of less than or equal to 70 kilopascal (kPA) between May 1 and November 30, and less than or equal to 76 kPa between December 1 and April 30. High pressures cause increased leakage of vapors from tanks into the atmosphere.
“Based on consultations (with shippers), Trans Mountain is proposing to modify the heavy crude oil pool specifications,” the company wrote in its regulatory filing. Trans Mountain added that it will continue to speak with its shippers regarding changes to the light crude oil pools.
“At this time, Trans Mountain is not aware of any shippers intending to object to Trans Mountain’s revisions to the heavy crude oil pools in the service standards, the company also said. ( Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston and Nia Williams in British Columbia; Writing by Josie Kao)
