Esso Pulls Out of Coastal B.C.

Imperial Oil recently announced it would close its seven remaining Esso marine fuel facilities in coastal B.C. The sites are at False Creek, West Vancouver’s Fisherman’s Cove, Steveston, Breckin Point in Nanaimo, Campbell River, Port Hardy and Prince Rupert.

“This was a strategic business assessment decision,” said Gordon Wong, public affairs officer for Imperial Oil. “It was determined that the Esso-branded marine business no longer fits in with Imperial Oil’s core business.” The marine service and supply facilities made up a relatively small segment of the petroleum giant’s revenue, Wong said. One comparison found that, on average, a land-based Esso fuel station sells a minimum of 300,000 litres of fuel per month; whereas most smaller marine-based stations average only about 50,000 litres for an entire year.

The dates of closure have changed several times since the announcement. At the time of writing in early December, Steveston had already been shut down, and Fisherman’s Cove and False Creek were set to close in January and February; however, they, along with the remaining facilities, could stay open as late as next summer.

Closing the facilities involves a process of assessment that begins first with the equipment, followed by the environmental impacts of the fuel facility. “Through the assessment, the company will decide whether some sort of environmental clean up is required,” continued Wong, “after which the equipment will be dismantled and removed.”

He could not speak to what would become of the sites after this process had commenced, but did qualify the closures with examples of alternative facilities in the areas where the sites are closing. Customers seeking fuel in Fisherman’s Cove, for example, must now access fuel in Horseshoe Bay, where the fuel dock can only accommodate two boats at a time and ferry traffic is constant. Power boaters, in particular, will surely feel the pinch on their wallets as they burn $50 in fuel to get to far-off fuel stations to buy $500 worth of fuel.

For many sail boaters, the logistics of getting fuel from alternative fuel docks will prove similarly inefficient, in which cases the only ready option will be to fill up jerrycans at land-based fuel stations and transport them to the docks. Concerns for safety have been voiced over this alternative, as inexperienced people will have to handle the highly flammable substance, and inevitably, jerry and oil cans could litter docks. “I’m sure the fire department will have something to say about the issue,” said one Esso fuel operator, who could not give his name (Esso has prohibited any parties involved from speaking to press).

And there are environmental concerns as well. When a boater performs an oil change in False Creek, for example, the onus will now be on them to properly dispose of waste oil at a land-based fuel facility. Unfortunately, the reputation of boaters to actually do this precedes them, meaning we may find waters increasingly slicked with waste oil.

Seeing the need to keep the fuel flowing and the facilities open, some operators of the Esso floating stations have sought to buy the facilities and equipment from Imperial Oil. However, this has not proved easy. A year ago, the company offered to sell the fuel docks to them; after all the assessments had been made and determinations attended to, the fuel docks would then be re-opened without the Esso brand name.

However, these offers were revoked in November when the company decided to seek a third-party indemnification agreement for each facility (including the water lot leases) precluding it from any future equipment failure or pollution costs above $10 million. If it can’t get cities to sign off on the guarantee, Imperial Oil intends to rip out the tanks and pipes (and possibly more), meaning operators will have to rebuild from scratch. This would not only cost considerable money, said the unnamed operator, but would also keep fuel unavailable for those areas even longer. At press time, discussions were still ongoing.

In 2004, Esso announced it would close its Victoria location; however, just as now, the closure date was repeatedly delayed, allowing the Victoria Harbour Commission time to work out a deal to buy the facility and install new tanks. In 2006, the Esso station finally closed; two days later, it was re-opened under the authority of the commission. Many on the coast are crossing their fingers that the changeover will be as smooth this time around.

Imperial Oil, chiefly controlled by ExxonMobil, is Canada’s leading petroleum company, its largest producer of crude oil and natural gas, and its largest petroleum refiner. The company supplies a network of almost 2,000 service stations across Canada. Contact Imperial Oil’s public affairs officer Gordon Wong at 416-968-4875.

For more on the situation in False Creek, read the Province article.