Keystone pipeline delivers one billionth barrel of oil
CALGARY, Alberta -- TransCanada Corporation has safely delivered the one billionth barrel of Canadian and U.S. crude oil on the Keystone Pipeline System.
The Keystone Pipeline System is one of the most extensive crude oil pipeline systems in North America, currently delivering to refineries at Wood River and Patoka, Illinois, Cushing, Oklahoma, and Port Arthur, Texas.
"This is tangible evidence of how the safe delivery of Canadian and U.S. crude oil is helping to fuel the everyday lives of the American people in the safest, most efficient and least greenhouse gas intensive way possible," said Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and CEO. "To put this achievement in perspective, it would take approximately 1.7 million train cars or 3.3 million trucks to transport one billion barrels of crude oil."
"These one billion barrels of oil have helped to fuel North American energy independence and the U.S. economic recovery, which has seen a dramatic rise in the number of oil and gas jobs as well as an increase in supply through a mix of Canadian imported and domestic production," added Girling.
Pipelines remain the safest and most efficient method of transporting large volumes of crude oil over long distances, and TransCanada continues to be committed to expanding the Keystone system with the addition of Keystone XL, a 1,179 mile pipeline between Hardisty, Alberta, and Steele City, Nebraska.
As the U.S. State Department's Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Keystone XL concluded, oil transported by rail, tanker or barge would create 28% to 42% higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than transporting the same oil through the pipeline.
In addition to lowering GHGs and transporting crude oil in the safest manner possible, Keystone XL would bring more oil from Canada and the U.S. Bakken to Americans adding another 2,200 construction jobs to Canada and 9,000 to the U.S. The State Department concluded the pipeline project would create 42,100 direct and spin-off jobs in the U.S alone during construction.
This month marks the five-year anniversary of the official start of crude oil deliveries for the 2,639-mile cross-border Keystone pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, to markets in the American Midwest and in 2014 to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The project was granted a Presidential Permit in just under two years.
"Identical to Keystone, Keystone XL will reduce GHG emissions and improve public safety by transporting crude oil via pipeline versus rail. Keystone XL will also create tens of thousands of jobs, and oil imported from Venezuela and the Middle East would be replaced with American and Canadian oil," concluded Girling.
