Strong demand for oil and refined products, as well as the startup of a new diluent recovery unit (DRU), fueled earnings growth in 2021 for Gibson Energy Inc., a Calgary-based liquids processing, storage and marketing firm.

hardisty terminal

Gibson started operations in December on the DRUbit, with the facility operating at or above its nameplate 50,000 b/d of capacity. Gibson and Houston-based US Development Group LLC (USD) located the plant at the Hardisty liquids trading hub in Central Alberta to make safe oilsands cargoes for railway delivery. ConocoPhillips booked the capacity.

The plant strips out for reuse gasoline-like condensate that dilutes northern bitumen production for pipelines to Hardisty. The resulting DRUbit concentrate is transported by train to a USD terminal at Port Arthur,...