Initial mainline construction activity has started near Hardisty and Provost, Alberta and near Bethune, Saskatchewan. In addition, facility construction has commenced at Hardisty, Milden, Saskatchewan and Cromer in Manitoba. With heavy construction equipment now mobilized, the company is looking forward to steady progress, enabled in part by the benefits of working on an Enbridge right-of-way corridor.
Alberta Clipper involves the construction of a new 36-inch diameter, 1,607km crude oil pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin. Pending US regulatory approvals the pipeline is scheduled to be in service by mid-2010.
The pipeline will have an initial capacity of 450,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) and allow for expansions to increase capacity up to 800,000bpd. Alberta Clipper will be integrated with, and will form part of, the existing Enbridge system in Canada and the Enbridge Energy Partners’s Lakehead system in the US.
Al Monaco, executive vice president of major projects at Enbridge, said: The start of construction confirms another significant step for Enbridge in ensuring our customers have a strategic advantage for marketing Canadian crude. The Alberta Clipper pipeline is the largest expansion project in Enbridge’s history and demonstrates our commitment to accelerating energy delivery throughout North America.
