CORRECTED-Cost of Canada's first unit-train crude terminal jumps 40 percent32 minutes ago by Thomson Reuters (Removes erroneous reference to Cenovus Energy Inc owning Cold Lake system in sixth paragraph)
CALGARY, Alberta, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The total cost of building Canada's first crude-by-rail unit-train terminal is expected to jump by 40 percent to around C$315 million ($289 million), operating company Canexus Corp said on Tuesday.
The Bruderheim rail terminal near Edmonton, Alberta, loaded its first shipments of Canadian oil sands crude onto rail cars in December. Its initial target had been to transport 50,000 barrels per day to U.S. markets by last November.
Canexus did not give a reason for the rising costs. In December, Chief Executive Officer Gary Kubera said delays were the result of normal project activity such as completing construction and going through commissioning activities.
Kubera said in Tuesday's statement the company was disappointed with the revised cost estimate, but said the site has attractive future development opportunities.
The company now anticipates loading 14-unit trains in February, equivalent to around 30,000 bpd.
By the middle of 2014 Canexus expects to have finished work to expand capacity to around 100,000 bpd as a second supply pipeline from the Cold Lake system is connected to the terminal.
At present, the terminal is loading Access Western Blend crude from MEG Energy's Stonefell storage facility.
($1=$1.09 Canadian) (Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Peter Galloway)