Enbridge expanding terminal

Storage • Enbridge Inc. is adding 900,000 barrels of storage at its Cheecham terminal in northern Alberta, it announced Tuesday, to handle additional output from the Surmont thermal oilsands expansion.

The Calgary energy transportation company said the project will cost about $300 million and will include two new 450,000-barrel blend tanks and conversion of an existing tank from blend to diluent service.

Bitumen must be blended with light petroleum products to flow in a pipeline.

Operator ConocoPhillips started building the 110,000-barrel-per-day Phase 2 of the Surmont project in 2010 with first production targeted for 2015. It co-owns the venture, now producing about 24,000 bpd from Phase 1, with French oil giant Total.

The terminal project is expected to come into service in two phases through the fourth quarter of 2014 and first quarter of 2015.

Enbridge is the leading pipeline operator in the Fort McMurray to Edmonton/ Hardisty corridor, it said in a news release.

It added its Athabasca and Waupisoo pipeline systems, which currently connect six producing oilsands projects, will connect nine producers by 2015.