Energy East gives Canadian producers a new option

Faced with increasing oil-sands output and delays to export pipelines to the US, Canada is moving ahead with a 1.1 million barrel a day (b/d) link from Alberta to the Atlantic coast. On 1 August, TransCanada, the country’s largest pipeline operator, said it has received firm commitments totalling 900,000 b/d for the C$12 billion ($11.6 billion), 4,000 km Energy East pipeline. TransCanada plans to file a formal application to the National Energy Board (NEB) in 2014, aiming for first oil deliveries to new marine terminals in Quebec and New Brunswick in late 2017. The terminus would be the country’s largest refinery, the 300,000 b/d Irving refinery, in Saint John, New Brunswick. If approved, th