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Overview

ICBC signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Kitimat Clean to provide partial financing for a clean oil refinery in British Columbia

Commitment Year•2013Country of Activity•CanadaDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•CanadaSector•Industry, Mining, ConstructionFlow Type•Loan

Status

Project lifecycle

Pipeline: Commitment

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Apr 18, 2013

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Ultimate beneficial owners

At least 25% host country ownership

Funding agencies

State-owned Commercial Banks

  • Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)

Cofinancing agencies

Private Sector

  • Oppenheimer Holdings

Receiving agencies

Private Sector

  • Kitimat Clean

Loan description

ICBC signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Kitimat Clean to provide partial financing for a clean oil refinery in British Columbia

Interest type•Unknown

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

On April 18, 2013, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kitimat Clean (KC) to provide partial financing for the construction of a clean oil refinery in British Columbia. Kitimat Clean is a British Colombia-based private company founded by David Black in 2012. The terms of the financing are unclear, although the Switzerland-based Oppenheimer Investments Group- now known as the American-based Oppenheimer Holdings- also committed to partial financing. The project was originally supposed to begin construction in 2020. However, Kitimat Clean has not yet received an approval for its Environmental Application from the Canadian Government since submitting it on March 31, 2016. There has been no recent news, although according to GlobalData's refinery database, the project is now expected to begin construction in 2030. If developed, the refinery will process heavy crude oil from the Alberta oil sands, with an estimated daily production of 240,000 barrels of diesel, 100,000 barrels of gasoline, and 50,000 barrels of aviation fuel. The proposed refinery project also involves the construction of a marine terminal near Kitimat, a diluted bitumen oil pipeline from Edmonton to Kitimat, a natural gas pipeline, and a fleet of 11 very large crude carrier (VLCC) vessels. The project is expected to create 6,000 jobs during construction and approximately 3,000 permanent jobs during operation.

Staff comments

1. Kitimat Clean oil refinery, proposed to be built in the Kitimat Valley in North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, will have a processing capacity of 550,000 barrels of diluted bitumen (dilbit) per day, making it one of the ten largest oil refineries in the world. The refinery will process heavy crude oil from Alberta oil sands and is estimated to produce 240,000 barrels of diesel, 100,000 barrels of gasoline and 50,000 barrels of aviation fuel per day. It will be developed, owned and operated by the British Columbia-based private company Kitimat Clean (KC) founded by David Black in 2012. Estimated to cost $32bn, the proposed refinery project also involves the construction of a marine terminal near Kitimat, a diluted bitumen oil pipeline from Edmonton to Kitimat, a natural gas pipeline, and a fleet of 11 very large crude carrier (VLCC) vessels. The massive refinery project is currently under environmental assessment and front-end engineering design (FEED) study phase.