Canada tries out bitumen 'road apples'
A novel way of transporting bitumen could help overcome Canada’s export pipeline shortage
Backers of the planned new method of transportation hope it will chime with lovers of the country's national sport. In ice-hockey-mad Canada, children call frozen pieces of horse manure "road apples", used as an erstwhile substitute for hockey pucks when none are in supply. It is wryly symbolic that the Canadian National Railway (CN) is embarking on a C$15mn ($11.3mn) pilot plan to solidify bitumen into a similar puck-like form to facilitate transport by rail. The company aims to encase thick and gooey heavy oil in a biodegradable polymer-recycled plastic grocery bags essentially-it calls Canapux, a bitumen pellet that can easily be transported by rail without the need for pipelines. The co
Also in this section
18 February 2026
With Texas LNG approaching financial close, Alaska LNG advancing towards a phased buildout and Magnolia LNG positioned for future optionality, Glenfarne CEO Brendan Duval says the coming year will demonstrate how the company’s more focused, owner-operator approach is reshaping LNG infrastructure development in the North America
18 February 2026
The global gas industry is no longer on the backfoot, hesitantly justifying the value of its product, but has greater confidence in gas remaining a core part of the global energy mix for decades
18 February 2026
With marketable supply unlikely to grow significantly and limited scope for pipeline imports, Brazil is expected to continue relying on LNG to cover supply shortfalls, Ieda Gomes, senior adviser of Brazilian thinktank FGV Energia,
tells Petroleum Economist
17 February 2026
The 25th WPC Energy Congress, taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 26–30 April 2026, will bring together leaders from the political, industrial, financial and technology sectors under the unifying theme “Pathways to an Energy Future for All”
