Enbridge’s Alberta Clipper capacity increase receives US approval

Enbridge Energy LP received a presidential permit from the US State Department authorizing it to increase transport up to full design capacity of roughly 890,000 b/d across a 3-mile segment of its Line 67 Alberta Clipper crude oil pipeline at the US-Canada border near Neche, ND, for continued shipment to an existing Enbridge terminal in Superior, Wis.

The pipeline, originally permitted in 2009 and built in 2010, has been operating at 450,000 b/d. Enbridge first applied for the expanded capacity in 2012. Line 67 starts in Edmonton, Alta.

Enbridge had been transferring crude at Neche to its already permitted Line 3 system as a workaround while awaiting permitting of the additional Alberta Clipper capacity.

The company plans to replace most of Line 3 with new pipe but has met growing popular opposition in the US. Minnesota began public hearings on the project last month.