CNOOC wins ruling against Pembina Pipeline

Pembina Pipeline Corp unjustly discriminated against Chinese oil major CNOOC Ltd by refusing access to storage facilities in Edmonton, Alberta, the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) has ruled.

In a decision made on Tuesday, a CER commission ordered Calgary-based Pembina to consent to receive, deliver and transport oil from CNOOC Marketing Canada through connection facilities linking the Woodland feeder pipeline to storage tanks that CNOOC subleases from Pembina.

The CER also directed the two companies to negotiate in good faith over commercial terms for the connectivity.

“Failing which, either party may apply to the Commission for determination of the reasonable commercial terms for that use,” the CER said in its ruling.

The Edmonton terminal is part of the TransMountain pipeline system and is fed by 20 feeder pipelines coming from different parts of Alberta. The terminal consists of 35 storage tanks with roughly 8 million barrels of capacity.

CNOOC, which has oil sands and shale assets in Canada, filed a complaint last April saying that in 2021 Pembina had refused to provide connectivity from the Woodland pipeline to one of its three leased tanks.

Neither company immediately responded to requests for comment.