I'm doubtful of how this can scale, and if the economics are even good enough for companies to want to use this. Listening to the chairman of this company on BNN last november he said that they need a massive capital influx of something like 60 million dollars to get to the equivalent of 10,000 bpd. He was also very coy when asked on the economics, he said once these pellets get to the water the economics are the same as dilbit but there's no way that manufacturing these pellets and shipping them by rail, or god forbid a truck, can match economics of pipeline. So this really looks like something that's not as efficient and can't scale large enough to make a dent in the gap between production and egress capacity. I was excited when I read this article until I saw the amount shipped, 130 barrels, total. That's what one of my middle tier heavy oil wells does in a day.
It's exciting that people are trying new things but frustrating that this is even an issue. This whole process is only necessary because a large portion of our idiot country has been brainwashed into believing that there's some kind of imperative safety risk of pipelines and tankers when there's not. And our malevolent Federal Government has passed a blockade bill on our northern coast when there's no coherent reason to do so. It's ####ing whack.
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