US, Canada conduct spill drill in the Bering Strait

Transcription

1 Sign Up with the Oilfield News Online US, Canada conduct spill drill in the Bering Strait Published By: NEWS COMMUNICATIONS since 1977 Wednesday August 7th, 2013 In a signal of increasing concerns over Arctic shipping, U.S. and Canadian coast guard vessels have conducted their first joint Arctic offshore oil spill drill near the Bering Strait. Two days of test of vessels and equipment were scheduled at Port Clarence, a protected bay near the strait, although poor weather limited actual deployment of spill gear to one day, said Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow. Port Clarence has been designated by the Coast Guard as a port of refuge for vessels in distress. A Coast Guard skimming system was successfully deployed from a Canadian vessel participating in the drill, but bad weather also prevented deployment of a large ship emergency towing system provided by the state of Alaska, Wadlow said. The exercise was held July 17 and 18. The Bering Strait separates Alaska and Russia, and there is increasing concern among Coast Guard and Alaska officials about growing non- U.S. vessel traffic including oil tankers and liquefied natural gas carriers using the Russia s Arctic northern sea route from Europe to Asia. The route transits the Bering Strait, which can be constricted by ice and bad weather. The loss of summer Arctic sea ice, which is at record lows this year, is making the Arctic sea routes more available for commercial shipping, including for vessels that are non-ice strengthened. So far this year, Russian authorities have given permission to 204 vessels to use the northern sea route, up from 250 in 2012 and 130 in 2009, Alaska officials said. Some of those are fuel carriers. Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell he has been informed by the Coast Guard that at least two tankers carrying fuel from Norway to Asia are among vessels now

2 en route to the Bering Strait. Wadlow said this is the first joint U.S.-Canada spill drill held in Arctic waters, although joint exercises are regularly done at Dixon Entrance, along the U.S.Canada border in southeast Alaska. The exercise at Port Clarence involved the Coast Guard cutter SPAR, a 225-foot buoy tender, and the Canadian Coast Guard s 272-foot icebreaker Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and involved the test deployment of oil skimming systems. The SPAR is routinely on patrol in the Aleutians and Pribilof island regions with a primary mission of maintaining aids to navigation. The Sir Wilfrid Laurier, homeported in Victoria, B.C., operates seasonally in Arctic waters. The exercise provided an opportunity for our crews to compare operating practices and learn from each other, and it supports the key tenets of the Coast Guard s recently-released Arctic Strategy, which are to improve awareness, modernize governance and broaden partnerships in the Arctic region, said Commander Matt Jones, chief of spill prevention for the Coast Guard s 17th District, which covers Alaska, in a statement. Industry-sponsored Arctic offshore spill exercises have been held in Arctic waters, such as drills conducted in the Beaufort Sea by Alaska Clean Seas, a spill co-operative, but the Bering Strait and western Alaska coastline are far from industryoperating areas and are vulnerable to a spill from a fuel carrier transiting the Chukchi Sea or the strait. The bulk of the marine traffic is non-u.s. registered vessels and Alaska s laws for spill contingency plans do not apply, Treadwell said. In contrast, U.S. vessels operating in Alaska Arctic waters are required to have spill contingency plans on file with the state. In the plans, ship owners show they have spill responders under contract. U.S. and Alaska officials are also working on a joint U.S.-Russia spill response capability for the Bering Strait region, but it has not yet been

3 finalized, state officials have said. State officials are concerned also whether the U.S. Coast Guard will be given adequate resources by Congress to deal with increased risks from vessel accidents as the Arctic waters open. They re borrowing resources now from elsewhere in Alaska, to step up a Coast Guard presence In the Alaskan Arctic, said Fran Ulmer, a former Alaska lieutenant governor who now chairs the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, an advisory body of citizens and scientists who give advice to federal agencies on Arctic research priorities. The Coast Guard is operating flight service facilities on a seasonal basis this year in Kotzebue for search and rescue, but Ulmer is concerned that helicopters and flights crews are just being transferred from other Alaskan coastal regions where they are also needed. She is concerned that Congress may be unwilling to put any substantial funding behind new protections needed for the Arctic. New crude oil rail loading facility being built in Edmonton Keyera Corp. and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. have entered into a joint venture to build a new crude oil rail loading facility in an industrial area of northeast Edmonton. And the project is drawing mixed reactions. The facility at 850 Hayter Road, which will be called the Alberta Crude Terminal, will be able to load crude oil handled at Kinder Morgan s Edmonton Terminal onto trains for delivery to North American refineries. The terminal will have 20 loading spots and will be able to load about 40,000 barrels of crude oil into tank cars per day. The City s chief economist, John Rose, says that while that volume is relatively modest, it will create added flexibility for oil producers in the region. From an economic perspective, from the point of view of the prosperity of Edmonton and the province, this facility gives oil producers additional options as opposed to strictly relying on pipeline to move their oil. And it also gives them additional options in terms of where that oil goes. Even though he doesn t believe that the operation will generate a significant number of jobs in the area, he thinks its impact will still be felt. What is good for areas north of Edmonton is good for the city of Edmonton, in terms of spill over, in terms of jobs, people coming into the city, people sourcing materials and equipment from within the city itself, Rose explains. It will (also) have a significant positive impact on pricing that

4 is set in the Edmonton area for oil, because you will have an additional flexibility in terms of being able to move that oil even if pipeline capacity is constrained. But some are concerned about the safety implications, especially given the recent tragedy in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. We now have these things called virtual pipelines, where the entire train is filled with oil, and this is new. And the problem is when something goes wrong, it can go very wrong.it s what (risk) experts call low probability, high consequence, says Keith Stewart with Greenpeace Canada. David Smith, President and COO of Keyera, says he understands the concerns. All I can say is that Keyera has a very strong record of safety in the operation of all of our facilities. I know that safety is one of their first rules foremost in their minds, says Tony Caterina, Edmonton city councillor for Ward 7. And here we re talking about some very large companies that certainly, I imagine, would have that at the forefront of their planning. Keyera will pay for about $65 million of the costs of the project, while Kinder Morgan will pay approximately $33 million. The new terminal is expected to be commissioned during the second quarter of 2014, pending regulatory approvals. The companies are also already looking into a possible expansion, that would allow them to move up to 125,000 barrels per day of crude oil. TransCanada plans to go ahead with Energy East pipeline TransCanada Corp has decided to go ahead with its Energy East pipeline project to transport crude oil to Canadian refineries and export terminals as far east as New Brunswick. The proposed pipeline system will take crude from western provinces as far east as Saint John, N.B., passing To be removed off the fax list, please fax back with your number in the space provided to 1(800) :

5 through other Canadian cities including Montreal and Quebec City. It will include some existing TransCanada pipelines between western Canada and Montreal plus new lines to be constructed to take the crude further east. Alberta Premier Alison Redford, who has been outspoken in her support of projects that increase access to new markets for her province, issued a statement saying TransCanada s Energy East fits with the Canadian Energy Strategy. My government made a commitment to the project as part of our efforts to build new markets and get a fairer price for the oil resources Albertans own, Redford said. This is truly a nation-building project that will diversify our economy and create new jobs here in Alberta and across the country. TransCanada estimates the project will cost about $12 billion, excluding the value of its converted Canadian Mainline pipeline system. The project was been backed by Redford and the other provincial premiers at their recent annual meeting in Ontario but faces opposition from environmental and other groups. Among other things, opponents of pipelines are concerned about the potential risk of spills, which can pollute ground and water supplies and poses an environmental and health risk. Pipeline supporters, on the other hand, argue that the risks can be reduced with proper technology and processes. They also point out pipelines are a safe and effective way to transport large volumes of crude, a vital source of energy used to make gasoline, jet fuel and other products. This is an historic opportunity to connect the oil resources of western Canada to the consumers of eastern Canada, creating jobs, tax revenue and energy security for all Canadians for decades to come, said Russ Girling, TransCanada s president and CEO. He said it s one answer to the question of how to move crude oil from Western Canada to refineries and consumers in other markets. However, Girling also made a pitch for the politically sensitive Keystone XL project a delayed TransCanada pipeline that would stretch from Alberta to Texas, if it gets the required approvals. Energy East is one solution for transporting crude oil but the industry also requires additional pipelines such as Keystone XL to transport growing supplies of Canadian and U.S. crude oil to existing North American markets, Girling said. Both pipelines are required to meet the need for safe and reliable pipeline infrastructure and are underpinned with binding, long-term agreements. The Harper government has argued that Keystone XL is good for both the United States and Canada but President Barack Obama has yet to give his go-ahead to that line, which has faced intense lobbying both for and against. Joe Oliver, Canada s natural resources minister, welcomed the TransCanada announcement on Energy East but said the federal government would also work to ensure pipelines are safe. Our government welcomes the prospect of transporting Canadian crude oil from Western Canada to consumers and refineries in Eastern Canada and ultimately to new markets abroad, Oliver said in a statement. Initiatives like this could allow Canadian refineries to process more potentially lower priced Canadian oil, enhancing Canada s energy security and making our country less reliant on foreign oil, he said. However, the statement also added that the Harper government will only allow energy projects to proceed if they are proven safe for Canadians after an independent, science-based environmental and regulatory review. Increased storage needed for natural gas: study About 20% of Nova Scotia s electricity comes from natural gas A study prepared for Nova Scotia s provincial government says natural gas customers in the province are forced to buy the fuel from the New England market in the coldest months, driving up the price. The study by ICF Consulting Canada Inc. says more natural gas storage is needed in the province to help moderate the price hikes in the winter. Last winter, dwindling natural gas reserves coupled with price fluctuations prompted the province to launch the study on how it can secure a more stable supply. It examined market demand, infrastructure needs and the flow of natural gas in the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline, which is primarily used to ship gas to the northeastern U.S. Natural gas prices in the province tripled in December, driving up costs for large industrial-scale users such as hospitals and universities. Energy Minister Charlie Parker has said the price hikes were driven by a number of factors including market price volatility and a shrinking supply with the gradual winding down of ExxonMobil s Sable offshore project, which began production in Looking to Advertise in the next upcoming Oilfield News Release? Need to update your advertisement? Would you like to receive the publication by ? Didn t receive your subscription? Give us a call at