Cenovus Energy Inc. is investigating building a recovery unit at its rail terminal near Edmonton which would cost between $800 million and $1 billion, CEO Alex Pourbaix told The Canadian Press in a recent interview.
It would be capable of processing up to 180,000 barrels per day of diluted bitumen, recovering about 60,000 barrels per day of diluent to be returned to Conovus’s northern Alberta oilsands projects for re-use, he said.
“Right now, about one-third by volume of every tank car of oil we send is taken up by diluent and that diluent actually has a cost to us, it has no value. If we could… move pure bitumen, it effectively reduces our freight costs by over a third, so it makes rail movement of oil much more economic,” he said.
“On top of that, the straight bitumen generally is a much more attractive feedstock for our refining customers at the other end of the line. We believe there may even be a premium value associated to stripping the diluent out.”
https://globalnews.ca/news/5778115/oilsands-crude-rail-diluent/
It seems like a win/win but I would rather they buy ARX.
GLTA