Posted on 08/08/2013 2:25:50 PM PDT by thackney
Keystone XL would not add to greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study published Thursday by an independent research group that echoed the findings of government-backed reports.
The study found that the addition of the new pipeline connecting Canadian oil sands fields with the U.S. Gulf Coast wouldn’t make a substantial difference in emissions because U.S. refineries would get similar crude from Venezuela or elsewhere.
Production, processing and transportation of Venezuelan heavy crude results in about the same greenhouse gas emissions as oil sands crude, according to the study from energy-focused information and research firm IHS CERA.
A prior report from IHS CERA said that Keystone XL would offer an alternative to Venezuelan and Mexican crudes.
Environmentalists have argued that Keystone XL would add to greenhouse gas emissions and therefore fail a key test for the pipeline set by President Obama.
Pipeline opponents also argue that if Keystone XL were not completed there would less interest in producing crude from Canadian oil sands, resulting in an overall environmental benefit.
But the IHS CERA report said that even without the pipeline, production of oil sands crude in Canada would continue and would find other ways to markets.
“Given sufficient investment, our view is that the economics for moving heavy oil sands crude by rail could improve further, even approaching pipeline economics,” the report said. “Consequently, even without the Keystone XL pipeline, we believe that oil sands production would grow at a similar rate. Therefore (greenhouse gas) emissions will be unaffected by the fate of Keystone XL.”
Despite arguments from environmentalists to the contrary, IHS CERA found that rail transportation of oil sands crude is likely to be a cost-effective option for producers.
Oil sands crude is made up mostly of bitumen, a solid, hydrocarbon-bearing material. To move it in pipelines, producers have to heat and dilute the bitumen, creating a substance called diluted bitumen. Diluted bitumen, or dilbit, is made up of 70 percent bitumen and 30 percent diluents, according to IHS CERA.
But oil producers and refiners could move pure bitumen by rail instead, making it more cost-effective, IHS CERA said.
“By railing pure bitumen (instead of dilbit in a pipeline or rail car) oil sands producers can avoid some expense—specifically cost for the diluent—plus there would be fewer barrels to transport (compared with dilbit, shipping pure bitumen decreases the total volume moved by 30%),” the report said. “These savings offset some of the extra costs associated with rail transport.”
If oil shippers were to take this route, they could make rail movements of bitumen just $6 more expensive than pipeline movements, making it worthwhile, IHS CERA said.
Movements of pure bitumen by rail would require new infrastructure, which companies have not pursued because they have expected pipelines like Keystone XL to meet their shipping needs, the study said.
“However, if producers anticipate that new pipeline capacity will not keep pace with oil sands growth, we expect that they will make investments in more efficient rail transport, including equipment for moving pure bitumen,” the study said. “These investments would narrow the gap between the economics of transporting oil sands by pipeline and by rail.”
We’re going to use the same amount of oil either way. We can burn diesel in ocean going ships to get it here, or diesel in railroad trains, or you can use electric pumps and pump it here.
Pumps and pipelines are positively green compared to the alternative.
Considering that there ARE NO carbon issues....
can’t wait for the Keystone Pipeline Deniers to come up with another reason............
Liberals heads will explode..............
can’t wait for the Keystone Pipeline Deniers to come up with another reason............
It has also been pointed out that the diluents are returned via rail on what would otherwise be empty tank cars.
With a pipeline there are no returning cars. An extra cost to return the diluents.
“Keystone XL would not add to greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study published Thursday by an independent research group that echoed the findings of government-backed reports. “
No matter, the goalposts will be moved again.
Betcha the politicians are being paid off by OPEC to delay or kill this. In fact guarantee it.
Yes.
A southern Oone border contributes to carbon emssions a a huge way.
The DNC is taking 30M people from living in harmony with mother Gia and placing them in 20 year old 9mpg Clunkers.
A southern open border contributes to carbon emssions a a huge way.
The DNC is taking 30M people from living in harmony with mother Gia and placing them in 20 year old 9mpg Clunkers.
And if they did, it wouldn’t make one bit of difference.
But it won’t, so, opponents can shove their opposition straight up their carbon-producing holes.
Thanks thackney.
There should be a law to imprison NIMBYs for doing what they really do: preventing any new competition against their government-linked, established business associates. We’re going to need all of the oil that we can get. There will likely be hundreds of millions of new drivers and further increases in manufacturing in Asia. Those changes will drive the price of oil sky high in the near future. And we need to stop being dependent on despotic regimes for oil.
Enough studying, lets get on with a decision. In the time this government has taken studying the pipeline a nation I grew up in would have had it built.
I remember a once great nation that set the goal of putting a man on the moon and did it in less than 10 years, with what today is primitive technology. Today that nation cannot put a man into orbit. Why should I expect it to be able to build a pipeline?
Able Yes, Willing No.
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