Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Pacific Future Energy keeps proposed oil refinery plans in the news

The dramatic drop in oil prices in recent months hasn't apparently reduced the enthusiasm for Pacific Future Energy and their plans for an oil terminal development for the North Coast.

In recent days, the company has been featured in the media on two occasions, the first an editorial piece for the Vancouver Sun composed by Ovide Mercredi, an advisor with Pacific Future Energy and former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

Mr. Mecredi addressed the theme of the need for First Nations to become more involved in industrial projects that are proposed across the nation. Towards that process, Mr. Mercredi offered up some of the current approaches of Pacific Future Energy as they seek to engage First Nations in their proposed oil terminal project.

Among some of his key points from the editorial, the terminal project would supply Northern Coastal First Nations with cleaner diesel from a nearby refinery, reducing the dangers of the current process of barging the fuel from Vancouver.

He also stressed the technical aspects of the Pacific Future Energy proposal, which calls for near zero carbon emissions to be found from the refinery itself.

Mr. Mercredi also hailed the approach that Pacific Future Energy is taking with its project, outlining how he believes it could become a model for all resource projects in the future.

Mr. Mercredi's op-ed piece in the Sun was delivered at around the same time that an appearance from CEO Samer Salameh  provided more background on the company plans.

The Pacific Future Energy CEO outlined for Business News Network the progress of the proposed terminal development and some of the key factors related to its potential development.

He outlines that the current drop in oil prices is not of a major concern to his company proposal. Stating that refineries such as the Pacific Future Energy proposal make their margins on the difference between crude oil and refined oil, which he believes would provide a desired profit margin for his company.

He observed that consultation with First Nations is a key point of their planning, however he did not expand very much on the nature of any negotiations that may currently underway.

He wraps up his review on the topic of transportation, reviewing how the bitumen would be delivered to the terminal for processing. Suggesting that if a pipeline project that feeds into his proposed terminal does not prove workable, then the oil by train process of transportation would be used to bring bitumen to the coast.

You can review the full interview here.

Yesterday, Mr. Salameh provided a background piece for the Financial Post, a sit down session which followed his appearance at the Empire Club in Toronto.

Pacific Future Energy CEO
Samer Salameh at Empire Club
in Toronto on Monday
He tells the Post, that Pacific Future Energy has narrowed their Terminal development choices to two locations on the BC coast, though he did not identify those locations in his review. He also outlined that the timeline for the company has it finking for an environmental assessment by the end of this year.

In the past, the Prince Rupert area has been mentioned frequently as possible destination for the company and its oil terminal project.

In a bid to cut the cost of construction of the refinery project, Pacific Future would seek out modules from Asia and ship them to the province.

Mr. Salameh  also observed that he believes that the Pacific Future Energy project meets the British Columbia Government's five conditions, a to do list that was originally put in place for the Northern Gateway pipeline.

While Pacific Future Energy continues on with its planning phase, there still appears to be a fair amount of resistance to their proposal to be found along the coast.

Still to be seen is whether the blue print for the project, which includes Mr. Mercredi's observations on First Nations engagement, can swing some of that current opposition in the province over the months ahead.

Background on the Pacific Future Energy Refinery and Terminal can be found from their website here.

For more information on the proposed development can be round on our project archive page here.

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