Canadian government-owned oil pipeline operator Trans Mountain last week revised standards for accepting crude oil on its recently expanded system after buyers raised concerns about the crude oil arriving on the line, a regulatory filing showed.
Trans Mountain last week said it would replace the existing pool of “Low TAN Dilbit” with a pool of “Pacific Cold Lake,” or bitumen diluted with crude having a density of less than 800 kilograms per cubic meter. Trans Mountain also defined vapour pressure limits for its Pacific Cold Lake, Pacific Dilbit and Synthetic Bitumen crude pools, as less than or equal to 70 kilopascal between May 1 and Nov. 30, and less than or equal to 76 kPa between Dec. 1 and April 30. High pressures cause more vapours to leak from tanks into the atmosphere.