The seven-month project was undertaken
Funded by Black, a newspaper magnate who has 170 papers across North America, the seven-month project was undertaken by engineering firm Hatch Ltd. It lays out plans for the proposed Kitimat Clean complex, which would be able to process 550,000 barrels of bitumen into 460,000 barrels of refined fuel each day.
“It’s a necessary step. You have to do the engineering and configuration to figure out what it will cost before you can get serious about discussing it with people,” said Black, who would not divulge the cost of the study, other than saying it “was quite a bit.”
The 270-page study shows a refinery that would be one of the 10 largest on the planet, employing 3,000 people.
It is Black’s answer to concerns about Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, which would carry bitumen or diluted bitumen from Alberta to load onto tankers on B.C.’s coast.
Black has argued refining heavy oil into products such as gasoline and diesel before shipping would reduce the potential for an environmental disaster and be an economic boon for B.C.
The cost of establishing Kitimat Clean is estimated at $30 billion. That includes the refinery, $6 billion for a bitumen pipeline from Alberta, $2 billion for a natural-gas pipeline to fuel the refinery and $1 billion for a fleet of tankers to transport refined fuels to buyers in Asia.