Canada tries out bitumen 'road apples'
A novel way of transporting bitumen could help overcome Canada’s export pipeline shortage
Backers of the planned new method of transportation hope it will chime with lovers of the country's national sport. In ice-hockey-mad Canada, children call frozen pieces of horse manure "road apples", used as an erstwhile substitute for hockey pucks when none are in supply. It is wryly symbolic that the Canadian National Railway (CN) is embarking on a C$15mn ($11.3mn) pilot plan to solidify bitumen into a similar puck-like form to facilitate transport by rail. The company aims to encase thick and gooey heavy oil in a biodegradable polymer-recycled plastic grocery bags essentially-it calls Canapux, a bitumen pellet that can easily be transported by rail without the need for pipelines. The co
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
