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Gold/Mining/Energy : Canadian Oil & Gas Companies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marcos who wrote (21190)	3/7/2013 3:37:45 PM
From: kidl	Respond to of 24928

Valero says 5,320 new rail cars to move crudes to Louisiana, California Houston (Platts)--7Mar2013/1112 am EST/1612 GMT Large US refiner Valero Energy sees Louisiana and California as among the destinations that will be served by its recent order of 5,320 new rail cars to move discounted inland crudes across the US, the company's chief operating officer said Thursday. Of the new rail cars, 1,600 will be coiled cars to take raw bitumen to its 270,000 b/d St Charles, Louisiana, refinery, COO Joe Gorder said during the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch 2013 Refining Conference in New York. His presentation was webcast. "We anticipate the volumes will be anywhere from 25,000 b/d to 30,000 b/d" that will be transported to the refinery on the heated cars, Gorder said. In a Wednesday securities filing, the refiner revealed the new rail cars will cost $750 million and will increase its rail car fleet to more than 12,000. Valero said the new cars will increase Valero's feedstock flexibility and access to discounted inland crudes. "We're also looking at the possibility of moving heavy sour Canadian crudes into our Wilmington refinery [in California, capacity 135,000 b/d], so we have an allocation of our rail cars to that," Gorder said. "It's not likely bitumen; it will be [something] like Western Canadian Select or some oil that has diluent in it that would flow." Those volumes could be around 30,000 b/d, he said. Valero also announced this week that it will build a 70,000 b/d crude offloading facility at its 170,000 b/d Benicia refinery in California. The $30 million project will allow the company to replace foreign and other crudes such as ANS and California domestic grades at the plant with railed-in lower-cost domestic production. Valero CEO Bill Klesse told the conference that the refiner is also shipping about 25,000-30,000 b/d of heavy Canadian oil down the Mississippi to its Hartford, Illinois terminal on barges. He said the discount for that crude is about $40/barrel with Gulf-Coast priced crudes while the company's operating cost is $3/b. "When I see a $40 discount, my eyes go whoa, how do we get there?" he said. In addition, Klesse appeared struck by what he said was an "amazing" 18-month timeline between placing an order for rail cars and their delivery. "For 1,000 cars, [18 months] is the first car, then they come to you for the next 12" months," he said.

To: marcos who wrote (21190)	3/7/2013 3:48:36 PM
From: VisionsOfSugarplums	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24928

Kitimat refinery financing close, says Black www2.canada.com Dene Moore, The Canadian Press Published: Thursday, March 07, 2013 British Columbia newspaper mogul David Black says a group of investors has committed financing for his plan to build a $25-billion oil refinery project on the province's northern coast in a deal that would be one of the largest private developments in B.C. history if it goes through. Black announced in Vancouver on Wednesday he is on the verge of signing a memorandum of understanding in the coming weeks with a consortium of investors. The deal is for debt financing, not an equity investment, in a project being met with some skepticism from within the oil and gas industry. How solid is it? I would say it's 100 per cent because in this case, the financiers are very anxious to help get the refined fuels from Canada," Black said in a speech to the Vancouver Chamber of Commerce. "I'm sure we'll get through to the finish, I'm sure that money will be there." The consortium of investors was put together by Richard Cooke, senior managing director of Switzerland-based Oppenheimer Investments Group. "We have the investors together. We have the commitment," Cooke said. "I can't tell you who they are yet but we'll have documents signed in the next 30 days." Cooke said the investors will not be partners in the project. The refinery and all its accoutrements will be 100 per cent B.C.-owned, he said. Kitimat Clean Ltd. would include an oil refinery to be built 25 kilometres north of Kitimat, B.C., to process 550,000 barrels a day from Alberta's oil sands. The projected capital cost of the refinery is $16 billion. The plan also includes a $6-billion oil pipeline and a $2-billion gas pipeline. It may also incorporate its own ocean-going tankers at a cost of $1 billion, Black said. The owner of Black Press originally planned the refinery as the terminus of the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, saying he hoped the plan would shift the debate about that project. Black said he's met with Enbridge officials and is still open to working with them, but he thinks the original Northern Gateway plan likely will have to be reworked or scrapped. There has been and still is little interest in the oil patch for a refinery, Black said, but oil producers will be happy to sell the oil. The reality of B.C.'s environmental concerns may be the deciding factor. Kai Li, of UBC's Sauder School of Business, said the announcement means Black will have the money to pursue what would be the largest private development in B.C. history - once the backers have signed on the dotted line. "It's really a vote of confidence in the oil and gas industry in Canada," Li said. "It's a very big deal. In recent years there's not many acquisitions of that size." Kitimat Clean will be the first refinery in the world to employ a new refining technology patented by Expander Energy, of Calgary, that should cut greenhouse gas emissions in half, from seven million tonnes of CO2 annually to about 3.5 million tonnes.