TransCanada Corporation, a North American energy infrastructure company, announced Friday that it filed a formal project application for the Energy East Pipeline Project to carry crude oil from western Canada to its east coast.
The $12 billion project will carry 1.1 million barrels of oil per day after receiving the necessary approval for converting an existing natural gas pipeline to a crude oil service. The project will become operational by late 2018, according to a statement on the company website.
The Energy East Pipeline Project will convert 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) of TransCanada's existing Canadian Mainline system from natural gas to crude oil transmission, and will construct 1,600 kilometers (1000 miles) of new pipeline, said the statement.
The pipeline will transport crude oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan to a proposed terminal and refineries in Quebec, reaching the largest Canadian oil refinery in New Brunswick on the east coast.
New pipelines will be constructed in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Eastern Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick to link up the new converted pipeline, according to TransCanada's website.
'The pipeline will provide the safest and most efficient access to markets for Canada's growing crude oil production, ensuring we realize the greatest value for our natural resources,' said Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and chief executive officer.
'Energy East will also eliminate the need for Eastern Canada to import most of the 700,000 barrels it consumes every day,' he added in the statement.
The U.S. exported 415,000 barrels of petroleum products per day to Canada in 2013. Canada is the only country to import U.S. crude oil, which amounted to a sum of 133,000 barrels per day in 2013, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
TransCanada stated that Energy East will make eastern Canadian refineries more competitive by allowing them to eliminate their reliance on more expensive crude oil imported from outside Canada, while generating more than $7 billion in additional tax revenues after the first 20 years of operation.
Canada produced more than four million barrels of petroleum and other liquid fuels per day in 2013, while its oil production comes from oil sands, resources in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, and the offshore oil fields in the Atlantic Ocean, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency