Pembina Pipelines commissions Cypress County propane plant, rail terminal

By Medicine Hat News on November 20, 2020.

Pembina Pipelines has commissioned its propane plant in Cypress County and rail terminal, recent financial statements from the owner of the Empress straddle plants reveal.

In 2018 the company announced it would spend $120 million on a facility to remove propane from liquid natural gas that is exported from the province. That production is marketed generally, but also could be made available for a major propane-to-plastics plant the company is building near Edmonton.

This month’s quarterly financial statement notes that both the terminal and fractionator with a capacity of 30,000 barrels of propane per day were operational in September.

The rail facility connects to the Great Sandhills shortline railroad, which joins the CP mainline near Swift Current.

There is no change for the company’s proposed $120-million electricity co-generation project at Empress. That was differed among other projects this year as the company evaluated capital outlays during uncertainty over COVID in the spring.

In general financial news the company’s earnings in the third quarter were $318 million, down 14 per cent from the same quarter in 2019, though unadjusted earnings posted an 8 per cent rise to $796 million.