TransCanada cuts Keystone crude flows for remainder of June

keystone
TransCanada has cut its forecast for crude flows because producers in the Alberta oilsands are still scrambling to restore production after a massive wildfire forced the closure of a number of facilities. National Defence photo by  MCpl VanPutten.

Keystone crude flows down by 7 per cent

HOUSTON, June 22 (Reuters) – TransCanada Corp on Wednesday cut its forecast for crude flows on its 590,000 barrel per day (b/d) Keystone Pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta to Patoka, Illinois and Cushing, Oklahoma for the remainder of June, according to a shipper notice seen by Reuters.

Flows on the pipeline will average 396,140 barrels per day from June 22 until the end of the month, according to the notice, a 7 percent decline from where the operator had forecast monthly flows around the start of June.

The cut comes as producers in Canada are scrambling to restore production after a massive wildfire knocked more than 1 million barrels per day of oil production offline last month.

A June 7 shipper notice had forecast flows on the pipeline to average 425,963 bpd through the end of June.

TransCanada anticipates 49 percent of the Keystone volume to flow to the Hartford/Patoka hub, and the remainder to ship to Cushing, according to the latest notice.

A spokesman for the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Catherine Ngai in Calgary; Writing by Liz Hampton; Editing by Bernard Orr)