The Name Waupisoo

Waupisoo was a Cree chief in the early 1700s who acted as middleman between native hunters of the west and the fur factories of Hudson Bay. At York Fort in 1715, Chief Waupisoo told Hudson Bay governor James Knight of a river with banks of "gum or pitch" - tar, in 18th century terms.

In 1719, when Henry Kelsey had replaced Knight as governor, Waupisoo gave Kelsey a sample of "that Gum or Pitch that flows out of the Banks of that River." Though Europeans thought it worthless, the area's aboriginal people found the tarry bitumen a very effective waterproof seal for canoe seams.

Enbridge has named its newest oil sands pipeline in honour of Chief Waupisoo, source of history’s first known references to the Athabasca oil sands.

Project Overview

Additional pipeline capacity and associated infrastructure are needed to transport growing volumes of oil sands crude to market. Enbridge Pipelines (Athabasca) Inc. (“Enbridge Athabasca”) launched the Waupisoo Pipeline Project to help address this need.

Crude Oil Pipeline

The Waupisoo Pipeline is 762 millimetres (30 inches) in diameter and approximately 380 kilometres long. The line is constructed, owned and operated by Enbridge Athabasca. The pipeline system will transport oil sands crude from Enbridge Athabasca’s Cheecham Terminal to Edmonton via the company’s Stonefell Project terminal near Bruderheim. The line’s initial capacity will be 350,000 barrels per day with a maximum capacity of 600,000 barrels per day.

One of the three Waupisoo pumping stations will be located at the existing Cheecham Terminal, one near the pipeline system mid-point and one on the Stonefell terminal property in the Bruderheim area.

Diluent Pipeline

The Waupisoo Project design includes a 406-millimetre (16-inch) diameter, 150,000 barrel-per-day pipeline to transport diluent from Enbridge’s Edmonton Terminal up to Cheecham Terminal along the Waupisoo route. Diluent is used to thin heavy oil for shipment by pipeline. However, until commercial support for the diluent return line is finalized, Enbridge Athabasca has decided to postpone construction of this component of the Waupisoo Pipeline Project.