Suncor, Imperial scramble to make contingency plans in case Michigan’s order cuts off Ontario’s oil supply
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“We have this Portland-Montreal pipeline, which we now own exclusively, that allows us to bring water-borne crude into Montreal,” Little said on an earnings call, adding that he believes Suncor is “much stronger positioned” than competing refinery operators in Central Canada.
Suncor operates a 137,000-bpd refinery in Montreal and an 85,000-bpd refinery in Sarnia, which the company believes it can fill with oil delivered via the 223,000-bpd Portland-Montreal pipeline, which carries oil from Portland, Maine into Quebec, but hasn’t been fully utilized for years.
Suncor did not respond to a request for comment on how it would ship oil from Montreal to Sarnia to ensure its refinery in southern Ontario was fully supplied if Line 5 were to shut down.
Other oil companies are also making contingency plans that include ships through the St. Lawrence Seaway and railway cars to bring oil into Ontario.
Line 5, which brings oil and products such as propane from Alberta to southern Ontario and the U.S. Midwest,” is a “critical piece of infrastructure” for Imperial Oil Ltd., the company’s president and CEO Brad Corson said on a Tuesday earnings call.
Imperial operates a 120,000-bpd refinery and petrochemical complex in Sarnia and a 113,000-bpd refinery in Nanticoke that rely on Line 5 for feedstock.
“We are developing appropriate contingency plans that would allow us to supply our refineries in Ontario, that being Sarnia and Nanticoke, with alternate sources of crude both through the Seaway, as well as through other pipelines and rail alternatives that are available,” Corson said.
