Douglas Taylor: Upgrading bitumen will free up pipeline capacity

The debate over the Kinder Morgan expansion project (KMX) has become polarized and politicized. The growing controversy is occurring while there is evidence that the additional capacity the KMX would provide is unnecessary and that Alberta’s diluted bitumen would not get a higher price if shipped to Asian markets.
Alberta’s oilsands presently produce about 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of raw bitumen. Forty per cent of the raw bitumen is upgraded to a higher value product that ca