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Competing refinery plans eye same site near Kitimat and Terrace

Another company is planning to build an oil refinery on the site also eyed by David Black for Kitimat Clean

A competing company aiming to build an oil refinery on Dubose Point — the exact same place David Black has been eyeing for his Kitimat Clean refinery plan — has submitted their project description with regulatory agencies.

Pacific Future Energy, whose board of directors includes former International Trade Minister Stockwell Day, is planning a refinery which would produce up to 160,000 barrels a day of diesel, 40,000 barrels a day of gasoline, 13,000 a day of kerosene, and 10,000 a day of liquefied petroleum gas or propane.

Butane would also be produced, they said.

The company says it would need 3,500 people for construction and 1,000 for operations.

Pacific Future says the construction could potentially begin in 2018 with a 2021 production start date.

“This is the start of our public conversation as we work to build our economic future and protect our coast in Northern B.C., while recognizing and respecting First Nations rights and title,” said the company’s excutive chairman Samer Salameh in a company news release.

The company is boasting a number of benefits including what they call a “near net zero” carbon emissions.

The refinery would also be supplied by rail cars with cooled bitumen which the company has branded as “neatbit”, a peanut butter-like product that does not require a diluent as it would in a pipeline.

The company says that material is stable and has low flammability.

With the project description submitted the company says it will now begin working with First Nations, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office, a process which will include public consultation and studies.

“We will be listening very carefully to all of the feedback that we receive and will incorporate community concerns and values in our project’s design,” said CEO Robert Delamar.

The value of the refinery is estimated at $15 billion.