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Latest Word on Refinery at Haines, Alaska



Arctic & Northern History


The Whitehorse Star - Thursday, February 7, 1957

    Latest information available on Alaska-Yukon's proosed refinery at Haines comes from the Vancouver Province business page. The Coast paper says the firm is moving into Alaska and the Yukon with a $15,000,000 program to refine and distribute petroleum products.

    The report say Vancouver would become a major supply point for the venture, announced by Alaska-Yukon Refiners and Distributors Ltd., of Edmonton.

    "The venture is unique in that Canadian oil interests are moving into U.S. territory in a broad field," the newspaper says.

    The program included:

    A $6,000,000 refinery at Haines near the tip of the Alaska panhandle; the refiners to receive crude oil by deep-sea tanker from the western terminus of the Trans-Mountain Oil pipe line near Vancouver;

    Two "small inch" pipelines, one linking Haines with Alaska Junction in the Yukon and with the Canol line built during the second world war, and the other connecting Tok Junction on the Canol Line with Anchorage, Alaska;

    Construction of deep-water facilities at Haines making it a year-round, ice-free port;

    Distribution of petroleum products throughout Alaska and the Yukon, neither of which now has an oil refinery.

Huge Program

    The Province says marketing in Alaska and the Yukon will be undertaken by the Royalite Oil Co., which recently announced a $50,000,000 programs for development of the Athabasca tar sands.

    Other partners reported in the program with Alaska-Yukon Refiners are Refinery Engineering Co., Tulsa, Okla. and H.C. Flood and Co., Ltd., investment dealers.

    Construction of the 6,500 barrel Haines refinery was scheduled to be completed in 1958. Preparation of the site had already started.

    President of Alaska-Yukon Refiners is Joseph T. Sparling of Edmonton. Harry A. Fuller and H. H. Heisler, both of Calgary are vice presidents.

    The new venture by a Canadian company to pump oil into the developing areas of the Yukon and Alaska received approval in principle last Thursday in the Senate.

    Given second reading and sent to a committee for further study was a bill to incorporate Alaska-Yukon Pipelines Ltd.

    Senator Stanley McKeen (L - British Columbia) said the all-Canadian company plans to construct an oil pipeline from Haines Junction in the Yukon to Haines, Alaska, and build a refinery at the latter seaboard point.

    Senator McKeen said it is expected the line will connect with the wartime Canol pipeline at Whitehorse, Y.T. the half-way point. The Canol line was partially dismantled and shipped out of the north after the war. The portion remaining is under government control but it is expected to be released for private use.