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Effects of Diluted Bitumen on Crude Oil Transmission Pipelines

Effects of Diluted Bitumen on Crude Oil Transmission Pipelines

Full Title: Effects of Diluted Bitumen on Crude Oil Transmission Pipelines
Author(s): Transportation Research Board
Publisher(s): National Research Council, National Academies
Publication Date: June 1, 2013
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):

Legislation enacted in January 2012 called on the Secretary of Transportation to determine whether any increase in the risk of a release exists for pipelines transporting diluted bitumen. Bitumen is a dense and viscous form of petroleum that will flow in unheated pipelines only when it is diluted with lighter oils. The source of the diluted bitumen in North America is the oil sands region of Alberta, Canada. Diluted bitumen has been imported from Canada for more than 30 years and is currently transmitted through numerous pipelines in the United States. As imports of this and other Canadian crude oils have grown, new U.S. pipelines have been constructed, the flow directions of several existing pipelines have been reversed, and additional pipeline capacity is planned.

Determination of the risk of a pipeline release requires an assessment of both the likelihood and the consequences of a release. To inform its review of the former, the U.S. Department of Transportation asked the National Research Council to convene and expert committee to study whether shipments of diluted bitumen differ sufficiently from shipments of other curde oils in such a way as to increase the likelihood of releases from transmission pipelines. A finding of increased likelihood would lead the committee to conduct a follow-up review of the adequacy of federal pipeline safety regulations. In the absence of such a finding, the committee was tasked with issuing this final report, which documents the study approach and results.

The committee does not find any causes of pipeline failure unique to the transportation of diluted bitumen. Furthermore, the committee does not find evidence of chemical or physical properties of diluted bitumen that are outside the range of other crude oils or any other aspect of its transportation by transmission pipeline that would make diluted bitumen more likely than other
crude oils to cause releases.

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