Journal Sentinel Take-Out On Canadian Oil, Superior Refinery

The Journal Sentinel devotes big space to a take-out on the Murphy Oil refinery expansion issue in Superior, and delves into the Canadian tar sand pipelines, too.

Part II is tomorrow.

The package is the work of Great Lakes specialist Dan Egan, and as we've come to expect from Egan, the work is comprehensive and important.

It's not pegged to the news, as sources have said for months, and I've mentioned this while blogging on the subject, that the possible Murphy expansion seems to be hold for two reasons, both financial;

The capital costs of a major refinery expansion - - perhaps $6 billion - - in an economy where borrowing any sum is problematic.

Also the falling price of crude oil with shrinking demand worldwide makes extracting the gooey tar sand oil in Alberta too expensive to turn much of a profit.

Not to mention the environmental damage to Alberta.

Several months ago, one state regulator told me nothing was coming into the office from the company on the permit or application front, and that while the company had done preliminary work and some land purchases, it seemed as if the project was on the back burner.

It's good to have the state's major paper following the issue, especially since Superior's daily paper, the Telegram, has gone online exclusively and will have a diminished audience.