Innovative PLC Design Concepts for Petroleum Pipeline and Terminal System
Enbridge Inc. operates the world’s longest crude oil and refined liquids pipeline system. The company owns and operates Enbridge Pipelines Inc. (the Canadian portion of the Enbridge crude oil mainline) and a variety of affiliated pipelines in Canada and the United States. It also has approximately, a 12% interest in Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. which owns the Lakehead Pipeline System in the United States. These pipeline systems have operated for over 50 years and now comprise approximately 15,000 kilometers (9,000 miles) of pipeline, delivering more than 2.2 million barrels per day of crude oil and refined liquids. The combination of the Enbridge System in Canada and the Lakehead System in the United States brings together the primary transporter of crude oil from Canada into the United States. It is also the only pipeline that transports crude oil from Western Canada to Eastern North America, serving all of the major refining centres in the province of Ontario as well as the Great Lakes region of the United States. The system consists of approximately 9000 kilometers (5,600 miles) of mainline pipe in Canada, and 5300 kilometers (3,300 miles) of mainline pipe in the United States. The Canadian portion of the pipeline system extends from Edmonton, Alberta as the primary initiating facility, across the Canadian prairies to the U.S. border near Gretna, Manitoba. It continues again from the U.S. border near Sarnia, Ontario, to Toronto, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec, with lateral lines to Nanticoke, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, Ontario. The total length of the pipeline right-of-way is nearly 2300 kilometers (1,400 miles).