Perhaps for the first time, Oil Sands Fact Check may actually agree with opponents of Keystone XL. Bill Burton of the League of Conservation Voters acknowledged this fact: Despite his group’s best efforts to stir up opposition, the American public overwhelmingly supports the Keystone XL project. In fact, a national survey by the Pew Research […]
Top 5 Things You Should Know About Transporting Oil Sands Crude
April 1, 2013 Blog, Issue Alerts
On March 29, an oil pipeline running through Mayflower, Arkansas experienced a leak that resulted in the evacuation of 22 homes and immediate clean up efforts from the pipeline’s operator, ExxonMobil. According to reports, the Pegasus line was carrying Wabasca Heavy crude oil – a blend of crude produced in the Athabasca oil sands region […]
FACT SHEET: Background on Diluted Bitumen (API/AOPL)
April 1, 2013 Uncategorized, Fact Sheets
One of the types of crude oil derived from the Canadian oil sands is bitumen, a heavy, sour oil. Bitumen would not flow through a pipeline efficiently, so it is mixed with diluents to be readied for pipeline transportation as diluted bitumen, or ‘dilbit.’ Diluents are usually natural gas condensate, naphtha or a mix of […]
LETTER: Don’t Believe Oil Pipeline Myths
September 13, 2012 Blog
The following letter by New England Petroleum Council executive director John Quinn appeared on Sept. 12 in the Bangor Daily News. The letter dispels several myths about plans for the Portland-Montreal pipeline and the corrosivity of oil sands crudes. Don’t believe oil pipeline myths The recent OpEd on oil pipelines (“ The folly of tar sands”, […]
PRESENTATION: Internal Corrosion Discussion Before the National Academy of Sciences (DNV)
August 17, 2012 Uncategorized
Conclusions on internal pipeline corrosion as presented by Oliver Moghissi, PhD, vice president at Det Norske Veritas (DNV): Internal corrosion in DilBit pipelines is like other crude oil pipelines -Cannot be ignored -Can be managed Existing internal corrosion consensus standards and industry practice are applicable to DilBit pipelines DilBit is unique in terms of public […]
STUDY: Diluted Bitumen-Derived Crude Oil: Relative Pipeline Impacts (Battelle)
August 16, 2012 Uncategorized, Studies
This report evaluated the claim made that dilbit is more corrosive than other crudes. This evaluation was benchmarked against conventional and/or sour crude, and was based on the existing literature on crude and dilbit properties and characteristics, data on pipeline integrity and results of engineering assays of pipe that has been transporting dilbit, with such […]
