Alberta's proposed oil pipeline attracts interest from Chinese petrochemical giant

CALGARY — One of China’s largest privately owned petrochemical companies is weighing a possible deal to buy oil from the proposed Alberta-BC coast pipeline, according to sources close to the matter.Rongsheng Petrochemical Co. — which is already the biggest buyer of crude oil from the Trans Mountain pipeline — is considering the deal after Alberta approached the company about a binding contract.Bloomberg reports a potential deal involving the proposed one million barrel-per-day (bpd) pipeline would help to further Premier Danielle Smith’s goal of doubling oil production in Alberta and increasing sales to the Asian market at a time of increasing geopolitical uncertainty and rocky trade relations with the United States..Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean said he had spoken with “some companies in Korea and Japan” about an investment or long-term offtake agreement for the project at a conference in Calgary last week.“The world wants heavy oil,” Jean told the audience at the Energy Roundtable conference.“There's about three million barrels a day of demand in Asia right now. So oil is the number one product that has the number one return on investment for Canadians, bar none. Every single major project in the country does not stack up to one pipeline to the northwest coast.”China is also currently looking to diversify its oil sources..Rongsheng operates the Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical (ZPC) complex in Zhoushan — one of the world's largest integrated refining and petrochemical facilities — with a refining capacity of roughly 800,000 bpd and uses crude from the Trans Mountain pipeline.The 2024 Trans Mountain expansion, which runs from Alberta to the Vancouver area, is the only system that carries crude oil to Canada’s Pacific export terminal.The Alberta government plans to announce project details, including the planned route for the new proposed pipeline, by July 1, with the project then being subject to federal approval by October.If the pipeline is approved, construction could start as early as late 2027.Currently, the Smith government is still seeking private-sector proponents to eventually take over the project.

Alberta's proposed oil pipeline attracts interest from Chinese petrochemical giant

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