VANCOUVER – Some facts about the Northern Gateway project:
Cost: Estimated to be $7 billion, but that figure has been increasing.
Route: Twin pipelines would run 1,177 kilometres from Bruderheim, just outside Edmonton, to a tanker port in Kitimat, on the northern coast of B.C.
Oil: A westbound pipeline would carry up to 525,000 barrels a day of synbit, a blend of refined synthetic oil and bitumen, two types of dilbit and synthetic oil to Kitimat for export.
Condensate: A second pipeline heading east would carry 193,000 barrels per day of natural gas condensate, which is used to dilute the molasses-like bitumen to allow it to flow through pipelines.
Terminal: The Kitimat Marine Terminal would include two ship berths and 19 tanks to store oil and condensate. It would have the capacity to serve about 220 tankers per year.
Value: The pipeline is estimated to be worth $300 billion in additional gross domestic product over 30 years. Governments are expected to net an estimated $80 billion in tax and royalty revenues over those three decades: $36 billion for Ottawa, $32 billion for Alberta and $6.7 billion for B.C. Saskatchewan would net an estimated $4 billion.
Jobs: The company says it would result in 3,000 new construction jobs in B.C. and 560 long-term jobs.
Consortium: Northern Gateway Pipelines is a limited partnership. Calgary-based Enbridge (TSX:ENB) has a 50 per cent stake. The rest belongs to 10 private investors.
Partners: Four of those investors remain confidential. National Energy Board documents reveal the other six are: French oil company Total; Suncor (TSX:SU); MEG Energy; Cenovus (TSX:CVE); Nexen (TSX:NXY), the Calgary company taken over last year by Chinese state-owned China National Offshore Oil Co.; and Sinopec, China’s largest oil company.
