News Release: Ministry of Environment

KITIMAT CLEAN TO LICENSE EXPANDER FTCRUDE^®TECHNOLOGY FOR NEW BRITISH COLUMBIA REFINERY

Calgary, AB. (June 27, 2014)- Expander Energy is pleased to announce that Kitimat Clean has entered into an agreement with the Company to license its FTCrude^® process for its proposed refinery in Kitimat, British Columbia.

Expander’s FTCrude^® is a commercially licensable technology that converts low value or waste carbon sources into high value hydrocarbons – SynDiesel^®, SynJet^® and FTCrude^®.

The technology maximizes the retention and subsequent conversion of carbon into synthetic fuels, thereby minimizing carbon rejection. The FTCrude^® process exceeds 90% in carbon efficiency by reducing GHG emissions (by over 50%) and eliminating the traditional production of petcoke.

Through the integration of FTCrude^® into the Kitimat Clean refinery, GHG emissions will be reduced by 5 million tonnes per year (equivalent to avoiding the emissions of 1.2 million cars), and nearly 5 million tonnes per year (100 train cars per day) of petcoke will be eliminated.  Avoiding the petcoke byproduct is important because it contains high volumes of sulphur and heavy metals and would subsequently be burned in Asia.

            Kitimat Clean Ltd. is a private British Columbia company created to plan, construct and operate an oil refinery in Kitimat, BC. The refinery will feature state-of-the-art design, specifically for processing Alberta oil sands heavy crude oil, and engineered to be the cleanest upgrading and refining site in the world.

Kitimat Clean is building this oil refinery, an oil pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat, a natural gas pipeline, and a tanker fleet of 11 VLCC vessels. The total cost is estimated to be $32 billion. The refinery will convert Alberta oilsands bitumen, which sinks in salt water laden with sediment and plankton, into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel which float and evaporate in the event of a spill at sea. The refinery will create an estimated 10,000 full time jobs and generate billions of dollars of new tax revenues for governments each year. (Kitimat Clean news release dated June 16, 2014)

In making this announcement Expander Energy CEO James Ross stated, “We are thrilled to have been able to execute this landmark agreement with Kitimat Clean. By incorporating our FTCrude^® process into their refinery design, this combined state-of-the-art technology is specifically engineered to convert Alberta bitumen into refined products that will be the world’s cleanest petroleum fuels, eliminating the stigma of “Dirty Oil”.

We firmly believe our FTCrude^®technology is critical in ensuring that Alberta bitumen will be refined to the highest standards before it is exported, and provides invaluable environmental and economic benefits for Alberta, British Columbia and Canada.”

Kitimat Clean owner and founder David Black added, “The Expander FTCrude^®technology is key to executing our plan and building a state of the art, green refinery. It is vital that we benefit from the GHG and CO² reductions and high quality finished product that it will provide. Capital costs will be higher but the benefits are enormous.  We are extremely pleased to be able to make this announcement.”

About Expander Energy

Expander Energy is a leading developer and licensor of processes to convert carbon sources into valuable synthetic fuels.  Our engineered fuels, SynDiesel® and SynJet® are ultra-clean burning and complement existing transportation fuel infrastructure and current engine technologies.  Our patented and patent pending technologies  increase refinery  yield, reduce GHG emissions, and are designed to convert carbon rich materials such as natural gas, biomass, bitumen residuals, petcoke and municipal solid waste.  We strive to deliver an alternative, drop in fuel through patented technology to provide economic growth for Alberta and Canada while being environmentally conscious.  Expander Energy Inc. is a privately held energy company located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

EXPANDER ENERGY

Suite 200, 1414 – 8^th Street S.W.
Calgary, AB T2R 1J6
+1 403 452-1641
j.ross@expanderenergy.com
http://expanderenergy.com

KITIMAT CLEAN LTD.
email:  dblack@kitimatclean.ca
website;  http://www.kitimatclean.ca

June 10, 2014 – Kitimat Clean Ltd. announced today that it has signed a contract for the basic engineering design of a state-of-the-art world scale oil refinery to be located at Kitimat BC. Hatch’s Calgary office will do the work over the next five months. Once the design is finished Hatch will provide an estimate of capital costs which will be used by Kitimat Clean to sign contracts with lenders.

Kitimat Clean is building an oil refinery, an oil pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat, a natural gas pipeline, and a tanker fleet of 11 VLCC vessels. The total cost is estimated to be $32 billion. The refinery will convert Alberta oilsands bitumen, which sinks in salt water laden with sediment and plankton, into gasoline , diesel and jet fuel which float and evaporate in the event of a spill at sea. The refinery will create an estimated 10,000 full time jobs and generate billions of dollars of new tax revenues for governments each year. In addition the refinery will use new Canadian technology, at an incremental cost of $3 billion, to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50%, or 5 million tonnes per year. More information is available at kitimatclean.ca

Hatch Ltd. has served clients around the world for over six decades and has project experience in more than 150 countries. With over 11,000 people in over 65 offices, the firm has more than $35 billion in projects currently under management.

David Black, the owner of Kitimat Clean, said the entire Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study will eventually cost over $100 million and require more than two years to complete. He expects to apply for and obtain environmental permits during the same time frame. With these completed, contracts with lenders, gas and oil suppliers, and refined fuel users in place, and with agreements confirmed with governments and First Nations, construction could begin in approximately three years. Construction will require another five years at a minimum.

Sanjiv Save, Hatch Global Director of Gas Monetization and Hydrocarbon Processing, said Hatch is excited by the opportunity to design one of the world’s largest refineries and the greenest refinery ever planned. The introduction of Fischer Tropsch technology to a heavy oil refinery for the first time will cut CO2 emissions by 50% and sidestep the normal production of 100 train cars a day of petroleum coke.

Joint release:

David Black

President

Kitimat Clean Ltd.

Sanjiv Save

Global Director Gas &Hydrocarbons

Hatch Ltd.

BC Local News, April 28, 2014

This is the second of two columns addressing what I see as the greatest threat to the B.C. environment in our lifetime.

The Alberta oil industry’s Northern Gateway plan is to export bitumen to Asia via tankers from the B.C. coast. Under no circumstances should we allow that to happen. A bitumen spill at sea could destroy our coastline, together with the fish and wildlife that depend on it, for hundreds of years.

My first column (link above) discussed the light oil spill by the Exxon Valdez and the terrible toll it took on the Alaskan habitat and fishery. It also gave proof that a bitumen spill would be far worse. A bitumen spill would be almost completely unrecoverable because it would sink and stay on the bottom of our seabed.

The solution that is best for Canada is to build a refinery in Kitimat.

I am promoting and backing this solution. It will convert the bitumen to very light fuels that would float and evaporate if ever spilled. There are other enormous benefits:

• There will be a major reduction in greenhouse gases. We will use new, cutting-edge Canadian technology in our refinery. It will be so clean that in combination with oilsands extraction there will be less CO2 than in the huge conventional oilfields and refineries of Iraq and Nigeria. In other words, the Kitimat refinery will neutralize the extra greenhouse gases generated in Canada’s oilsands. This refinery will be built in Asia if not in Kitimat, and if so it will emit double the CO2 of our new design. This is the reason that Andrew Weaver of the BC Green Party is in favour of a Canadian refinery.

• An Asian refinery will also generate 100 train cars a day of very dirty coke (much fouler than B.C. coal) which will be subsequently burnt in the atmosphere to create power.  The Kitimat refinery will not result in the production of any coke. As we all live on one planet, it is far better for the global environment to build this refinery in Canada.

• Construction of the refinery will create 6,000 jobs in B.C. for five years. Operations at the refinery will result in more permanent jobs than any project has ever created in B.C. with approximately 3,000 direct jobs. These will be highly paid permanent jobs. These jobs will be available for the life of the refinery which should be in excess of 50 years. In addition, there will be thousands of other jobs created in spinoff local petrochemical companies and in indirect employment throughout the province.

• The Canadian and Provincial governments, local regional districts and municipalities, and many First Nations, will share in billions of new tax dollars each year.

Unfortunately, our Canadian oil companies are not interested in building a new major refinery.  They are focused on extraction which is more profitable than refining. One of them challenged me to spearhead the refinery myself, so I am doing that. We have a solid business plan and, as a consequence, Chinese banks and other institutions are prepared to lend us most of the funds required to build the greenest and most efficient refinery in the world. We are currently moving ahead with engineering design and environmental work.

We will also build a safe pipeline from Alberta to the refinery, with the active participation of First Nations. Modern pipelines can be built and operated safely. Leak data is available for everyone to see on the Canadian and U.S. government websites, and it proves recently constructed pipelines are not leaking. Furthermore, some of the best pipelining companies in the world are based in Canada.

In addition, we will build a fleet of new tankers, powered by LNG rather than Bunker C oil, to transport the refined products to Asia. This way, we know the tankers will be state-of-the-art and as safe as possible. The fleet will be owned by a company based in B.C. so it cannot shirk its legal liability if there ever is a spill at sea.

Let me be up front about my biases. I am for creating thousands of good permanent jobs in B.C. I am for creating billions of new tax dollars for government coffers. I am for reducing the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions. I am for building an oil pipeline that will never leak. I am for building a modern tanker fleet that carries only refined fuels that float and evaporate if spilled. I am against shipping bitumen in tankers.

If you agree that we should not put bitumen in tankers please contact your local MP and say so. The Canadian government makes a decision on Northern Gateway next month.

– David Black

The Globe and Mail, April 23, 2014

BC Local News, April 22, 2014

My name is David Black. I am the majority owner of Black Press, the company that owns this newspaper.  This is the first of two columns addressing what I see as the greatest threat to the B.C. environment in our lifetime. I am a reasonably sensible and conservative businessman, not an alarmist. All of the information in this column can be confirmed from public sources.

The oil industry wants to export Alberta bitumen to Asia via tankers. Under no circumstances should we allow that to happen. A bitumen spill at sea could destroy our coastline, together with the fish and wildlife that depend on it, for hundreds of years.

Bitumen, even if it is diluted, does not float in sea water if there is sediment present. This has been proven many times, most recently in a thorough Environment Canada study published on November 30, 2013. Page 51 of the study provides graphic evidence of sunken bitumen. Given that there is an abundance of sediment along the B.C. coast, the bitumen will sink rapidly and there will be little chance of recovering any of it if there is a spill. By Northern Gateway’s own admission, the likelihood of a bitumen spill at sea is over 10 per cent over the next 50 years. Others say that it is much higher. We are in agreement with the position taken by the Coastal First Nations that even the slightest risk of a spill of bitumen at sea is unacceptable.

The grounding of the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989 is often held up as an example of how bad an oil spill at sea can be, however, a spill of bitumen at sea would be much worse. The Exxon Valdez carried light crude and lost 250,000 barrels, one eighth of a tanker load. The light oil floated and could be removed from the beaches. Even so, after four years of work with up to 11,000 workers and 1,400 boats involved, less than 10 per cent of it was recovered. Roughly 200,000 birds and many kinds of other wildlife were killed. Approximately 1,300 miles of shoreline were affected and the fishery has yet to fully recover. Bitumen is very different. It would harden up on shore and much of it would sink to the bottom, making it unrecoverable and killing virtually everything with which it came in contact. Imagine if we lost a full tanker load.

Some say that, with GPS-based navigation and double hulls, spills such as Exxon Valdez are not possible today. They are wrong. Double hulls do not prevent hull fracture if there is a collision at speed, only if there is a gentle scrape. As for the GPS claim, most marine accidents are caused by human inattention, not by a lack of knowledge about position. All ships carried systems to indicate their location before GPS came along. The Exxon Valdez crew could have glanced at their instruments to determine their location but they didn’t, neither did the crew on the Queen of the North. Marine disasters regularly occur and a quick search of the Internet shows human error is most often the problem. Undoubtedly there will be many more marine accidents in the future. Our grandchildren will not thank us if we willingly risk the destruction of the BC coast on our watch.

Fortunately, there is a solution that is beneficial for all concerned: all we have to do is build a refinery at Kitimat.  The refinery will convert the bitumen to gasoline, diesel and jet fuel which float and evaporate if they are spilled. Often little or no spill remediation is required. These refined fuels simply do not cause the habitat destruction of conventional or synthetic crude oil, or anywhere near the devastation caused by bitumen.

The second part of this OP-ED will run in the next issue of The NEWS on Thursday, April 24. It will discuss the enormous value-add benefits and environmental advantages of a modern green refinery. The pipeline from Alberta and the tanker fleet to export the refined fuels will also be considered.

Let me declare my biases. I am for creating thousands of good permanent jobs in B.C. I am for creating billions of new tax dollars for government coffers. I am for reducing the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions. I am for building an oil pipeline that will never leak. I am for building a modern tanker fleet that carries only refined fuels that float and evaporate if spilled. I am against shipping bitumen in tankers.

If you agree that we should not put bitumen in tankers, please contact your local MP and say so. The Canadian government makes a decision on this next month.

David Black is the majority owner of Black Press, the company that owns The Parksville Qualicum Beach News.

Kelowna Capital News, April 15, 2014

Times Colonist, April 11, 2014

National Post Op-Ed, April 29, 2013