Canadian Natural Resources (CNRL) will have 80pc more space on the 590,000 b/d Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) crude pipeline at its disposal in about a month's time, executives said today.
The country's largest oil and gas producer will push its contracted capacity on the country's newest export pipeline to 169,000 b/d starting on 1 December, up from 94,000 b/d. Ensuring the continuously growing company would be able to place additional volumes was top of mind for executives.
"It certainly helps secure those barrels which would otherwise be potentially in an egress constrained situation," said CNRL president Scott Stauth on Thursday, adding stronger pricing is now possible by aiming volumes at California or Asia.
CNRL will then hold about one-third of TMX's roughly 472,000 b/d of contracted space for the line, which moves crude from Edmonton, Alberta, to the docks at Burnaby, British Columbia. The remaining 20pc, about 118,000 b/d, is set aside for uncommitted shippers.
"When you take a look at the opportunities off the west coast to further expand and diversify to additional refining destinations, that provides a significant forward opportunity for us," said Stauth. TMX has stabilized the Canadian market "more so than it ever was before," he said.
PetroChina Canada on 10 October said it had offloaded its TMX capacity in a letter to the federal pipeline regulator, with some market participants suggesting CNRL was the other party in that deal.
TMX roughly tripled the capacity of the existing 300,000 b/d line when it went into service on 1 May.
CNRL is known for pushing production higher through acquisitions in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) and struck another major deal earlier this month. The Calgary-based company is buying Chevron's oil sands and Duvernay shale production for $6.5bn with the acquisition expected to close in the fourth quarter, but be effective for 1 September.
CNRL produced 997,000 b/d of crude and natural gas liquids (NGL) in the third quarter, down slightly from 1.01mn b/d in the same quarter 2023.
