Re: The hard lessons of Northern Gateway rfk
Rail? Technically, yes, but I perceive the real constraint in that scenario would be economics. Bitumen as I suspect you are aware, trades off heavy oil prices. Which means considerably lower revenues per bbl.
Which makes the resource even more sensitive to/marginal net of transport costs. Rail costs per BOE are typically $5-8/bbl. higher than pipelines.
There was some thinking that the ability to move bitumen by rail without the diluent (typically condensate) needed to reduce viscosity/grease the flow in pipelines would provide a cost offset due to avoiding the capacity tax from the deadload of the condensate cycle, but I stikk think that rail exports via Prince Rupert or Vancouver might be sub-economic at current pricing.
What do you think?
Regards,
Naamkat