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This article was originally published in The Conversation, a source of independent, non-profit data, research and observation from education experts. Disclosure data must be held on the original website.
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Author: Larry Hughes, professor and founding member of the MacEachen Institute of Public Policy and Governance, Dalhousie University
On July 20, the Hornos Cabo oil tanker delivered approximately 450,000 barrels of crude to the Canaport garage facility at the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick.
Which made the delivery of Cape Horn different from that it was the first time crude oil had arrived in Saint John by boat from Alberta. It reached via the Trans Mountain Pipeline to the Westbridge Marine Terminal in Burnavia, British Columbia, and then through the Panama Canal.
By the end of April next year, a tanker will arrive in Canaport with between 350,000 and one million barrels of crude oil from western Canada. In this case, the oil will have been channeled from Alberta to a crude oil export terminal in Texas or Louisiana.
During a maximum of 50 years of operation at the Saint John refinery, it relied on crude oil from Canada’s external resources, adding Saudi Arabia, the United States, Norway and Nigeria to meet the peak demand. In 2019, approximately 80% arrived here from non-Canadian resources, and the rest came from the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador through tanker trucks and western Canada via the railroad.
Any time, such as an outbreak of COVID-19 in one of those oil-supplying countries, that disrupts the supply of crude oil to the refinery threatens the energy security of Canada’s largest Atlantic population.
Crude oil supply
Relying on non-Canadian suppliers has never been a challenge for the refinery. Even the low problems of Canada-Saudi relations in the summer of 2018 and periods of increased tension in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia was one of its main suppliers. (This is possibly partly due to the fact that about 60% of the refinery’s production is shipped to New England and U.S.-Saudi relations may also be affected if materials from Saudi Arabia to the Saint John refinery were disrupted.)
However, COVID-19 is a fear for refinery runers. In April, Irving Oil requested the Canadian Transportation Agency to use tankers from non-Canadian suppliers not specified for any shipment, in accordance with the needs of the Coastal Act. In each of the applications, it became clear that the company’s number one fear was that COVID-19 could have an effect of approximately 80 according to the percentage of its crude oil source shipped from non-Canadian sources.
That’s a concern.
Globally, the suitability of shipping crews has been increasingly critical since the onset of the pandemic. In many countries, concern about COVID-19 in shipments prevented crews from disembarking and returning home with their families, and new crews from boarding shipments.
This requires flight crews to continue painting beyond the end of their employment contract period. Reports of intellectual distress, self-harm and suicide were also reported.
An outbreak of COVID-19 in an oil-producing country or aboard an oil tanker can simply disrupt the supply of crude oil to the Saint John refinery and, as a result, alter that of its subtle products to the fullest of the Atlantic of Canada and New England.
Oil intake in the Canadian Atlantic
Atlantic Canadians consume about 20% more gas than all Canadians. Limited to herbal gas, approximately 31% of the energy used for heating areas in the region comes from oil (compared to 5.1% nationally).
Irving Oil’s resolve to locate other tactics for accessing western Canadian crude oil from British Columbia, the Panama Canal, or the U.S. Gulf Coast will undoubtedly increase the diversity of its supply. However, Irving’s considerations on COVID-19 and its foreign suppliers and carriers also apply to west Canadian oil fields and all vessels used to transport crude oil.
To be honest, Irving has few other options: crude oil by rail is a possibility, but his backyard capacity is limited; TransCanada ended Energy East’s assignment and even if it could revive it, it would take years to complete.
While the apparent response is to restructure the Canadian Atlantic energy formula to less dependent on oil, there are few short-term solutions. For example, while Churchill Falls would possibly meet some of the region’s demand for electricity, heating and transportation, it will not be available until 2041, when the contract for the sale of electric power between Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec expires.
Without access to cheap electric cars and readily available charging stations, gas will remain the number one transport fuel for transportation in the Canadian Atlantic. On the other hand, there are opportunities to heat premises, adding electric energy and firewood, of which it already covers about 30% of the demand for residential heating in the region.
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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Disclosure data must be held on the original website. Read the original article:
https://theconversation.com/alberta-oil-shipped-through-panama-canal-to-atlantic-canada-to-avert-covid-19-threat-to-energy-supply-144543
Larry Hughes, professor and founding member of the MacEachen Institute of Public Policy and Governance, Dalhousie University, The Canadian Press