Vancouver-based pipeline company Terasen Inc. is also spending big money to link the crude from Alberta’s oilsands with U.S. markets.

John Reid, Terasen’s president and CEO, says increased production from the oilsands – forecast to grow three-fold over the next 20 years to 2.5 million barrels a day – plays a huge part in his company’s future.

“The additional supply coming on line from the oilsands and the increasing demand for petroleum products in the U.S. is creating some exciting opportunities . . . ,” Reid says.

To ship oilsands crude, Terasen is expanding both its Express pipeline (which runs from Alberta to Wyoming) and Trans Mountain pipeline (from Alberta to the B.C. coast and Washington state refineries).

The company has also proposed constructing its $1-billion Bison pipeline to deliver 320,000 barrels a day from the oilsands to Edmonton refineries.

Terasen also wants to deliver more natural gas to power-hungry Vancouver Island. The company is integrating its Vancouver Island and mainland operations this year, and working with Island communities to support gas-fired power generation.

CHOPPER POWER

B.C. residents are going to be seeing more helicopters and big trucks with ‘softer’ tires in the near future.

The B.C. Oil and Gas Commission (OGC) will now consider applications to use helicopter-supported or heliportable drilling technology in parts of northern B.C.’s 63,000-square-kilometre Muskwa-Kechika wilderness area that are open for oil and gas exploration.

Heliportable drilling won’t be allowed where safe ground access exists, forestry operations are imminent, risk to workers is increased or the environment will be harmed.

But helicopters ferrying drilling rig equipment and workers will be considered in areas where potential oil and gas reserves are untested and environmental values are high, the OGC says.

In another step to accommodate B.C.’s burgeoning oil and gas business and the forestry sector, the provincial government has approved the use of automated tire pressure-control systems to allow hauling on back roads during the spring thaw season.

The onboard computerized systems, which allow truckers to automatically reduce and increase tire pressures, have been shown to significantly reduce road damage.