National Energy Board Hearings - Reversal of pipeline 9B: an opportunity for Quebec, an urgent need for Valero Energy Inc.

MONTREAL, Oct. 11, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - It is vital that the Quebec refining industry has access to new sources of raw material at competitive costs. The reversal of pipeline 9B, allowing the shipment to Quebec of oil from Western Canada and elsewhere on the continent, offers the most reliable and quickest means of making this possible, emphasized Valero Energy Inc. (‟Valero") today in Montreal at the National Energy Board hearings on the Enbridge project.

‟The Quebec refining industry is experiencing increasingly fierce competition and there is an urgent need to vary its supply sources so that it remains competitive and viable in the long-term. For Valero, such access to competitive sources of light crude oils remains the fundamental condition for the inflow of future major investments in our facilities," said Ross R. Bayus, President of Valero's Canadian Operations.

Investments of $200 million
In addition to bolstering the security of the Province's energy production, the pipeline 9B reversal offers significant opportunities for Quebec. For Valero alone, the Enbridge pipeline 9B reversal represents investments of over $200 million at its Montreal East facilities and its Lévis Jean Gaulin refinery, as well as the acquisition of two new ships, via a partnership, for the transportation of oil on the St. Lawrence River between these two destinations. These investments would create 200 jobs during the construction phase and 100 permanent jobs, once the two ships are in service.

‟This project offers a real opportunity for Quebec and its refining and petrochemical industry to benefit from the pipeline 9B's existing infrastructure. This pipeline has proved its reliability and its flow can be reversed in less than one year in order to meet current demand. It also makes perfect sense, both economically and socially, that we should capitalize on this country's raw materials, while also ensuring their reliable and safe transportation," added Mr. Bayus.

About Valero
Valero is the largest independent refiner and distributor of petroleum products in the world. Its assets include 16 refineries located across the United States from the West Coast to the Gulf of Mexico, as well as in Canada and the United Kingdom, with a combined throughput capacity of 3 million barrels per day. Through Valero Energy Inc., its wholly owned subsidiary in Canada, it owns and operates the Jean-Gaulin refinery in Lévis, which has a refining capacity of some 265,000 barrels per day, along with several other logistics infrastructures, including the Montreal East oil terminal, the most important of its kind in Canada, as well as the Pipeline Saint-Laurent that links the Lévis refinery and Montreal. Its Canadian operations also make it a leader, among others, in the field of industrial and commercial sales of petroleum products, and as a supplier to resellers and independent distributors. Valero Energy Inc. is also a major employer in Eastern Canada, in terms of the direct and indirect employment it generates.

SOURCE: Valero Energy Inc.

Michel Martin - Director, Public and Government Affairs
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