Present

Altex is a premier rail terminal and logistics company that has proven over many years its abilities to assist customers in accessing feedstock and end markets for their products. We see crude oil and value-added services around crude oil as being core to our ongoing business. We also see an opportunity to be a clear frontrunner in helping our customers move energy transition products. Our logistics expertise is second to none and we look forward to assisting customers with their needs.

2022

2022 was a challenging year for Altex. While our business remained highly efficient and effective for our customers, industry throughput at rail terminals loading crude oil failed to increase as pipeline egress capacity was expanded. As well, Altex was affected by a new rail terminal constructed in the area of our main operations.

We saw and took the opportunity to expand our service offering to customers. We introduced emulsion treating to our customers whereby we can help customers efficiently produce a marketable product for consumers. This service is critical for many producers in the area. This was especially so as higher oil prices led many producers to increase production by reactivating or drilling new wells that produced incremental oil needing additional treating before selling.

We also took the opportunity for other value-added services for our customers, including railcar storage and repairs. These additional services have been in demand by our customers and have significantly increased relative to our overall revenue.

With an increased global focus on energy transition products, it became clear that these products and processes will require an efficient supply chain to access feedstock and/or markets. Altex is an experienced rail terminal and logistics company and can be a great partner for many energy transition products. We have been progressing opportunities with partners to create renewable fuels from recycled products and agricultural feedstock. We have been working closely on opportunities to produce premium asphalt. We have also collaborated with partners exploring new ways to more efficiently move heavy oil/bitumen. We have also been assisting with other energy transition products such as helium, hydrogen, and ammonia. Altex can help all these products efficiently access markets.

2021

2021 was a strong year for Altex, with the economic strength and competitive advantage of our ability to assist in the movement of undiluted heavy oil / bitumen from Western Canada to markets around North America and globally. Throughput at our terminals increased by 55%.

The competitive advantage of our process was evidenced by another rail terminal operator constructing a Distillate Recovery Unit (DRU) to remove the diluent (condensate) entrained in the blended oil that they load before loading in railcars. Despite the additional significant cost of building and operating the DRU so that they could get oil with most of the diluent removed, they saw the benefit of moving oil in this fashion to markets around North America. Altex has being doing this for over a decade for our customers as we saw long ago the improved economics and other benefits of moving oil in this manner to markets around North America and globally.

2020

2020 saw the global Covid-19 pandemic dramatically affect world economies and the price of crude oil. Altex terminals were deemed an essential service and continued to be fully operational, but with due care and attention to maintain the safety of our employees and contractors.

While our direct and indirect customers (typically refiners/traders and producers) saw challenging times, we worked closely with them to assist their businesses and to provide needed egress for western Canadian producers and supply for oil consumers/refiners.

Wile throughput at the terminals was somewhat reduced, our efficient operation and strong financial results continued to ensure customers that we were a valued partner in their supply chain efforts.

2019

2019 was a busy year at Altex terminals, with throughput increasing by a further 30%. Stronger demand for our services was evidenced by important new multi-year contracts at our Lashburn and Unity terminals.

The better economics associated with moving heavy oil to market without the diluent (condensate) necessary in pipelines was evidenced by strong demand at our terminals while activity at other rail terminals which load diluted heavy oil/bitumen did not increase as significantly.

Focus shifted to oil consumers/refiners around North America seeking feedstock and seeing opportunity with western Canadian oil production.

2018

During 2018, we saw significantly more activity at our terminals, with throughput increasing by 80%.

We assisted our customers by helping move crude oil to offshore markets. We assisted in moving tank cars of oil to a marine terminal where it was loaded on a ship and moved to Asia. We also loaded sea containers with oil, with this sea containers subsequently moved to Asia. Undiluted heavy oil provides a safe and economic way for Canadian oil producers to access foreign markets and receive premium prices. It also provides an opportunity for foreign oil buyers to access western Canadian oil at a lower price than foreign alternatives.

With concern about egress options for western Canadian oil being able to access markets, Altex was able to secure multi-year contracts to help move oil to markets around North America.

2017

We saw increased utilization of our terminals in 2017 as the value of shipping crude oil without diluent became clear to the market.

We continued to expand our service options by introducing emulsion treating and restarted had success unloading condensate in Western Canada from sources around North America.

Altex has been a leader in intellectual property, receiving several Canadian and US patents. In 2017 we recognized the benefit of this investment in intellectual property through licensing certain Altex patents to a railcar manufacturer.

Altex succeeded in its initiative to assist Canadian oil producers access offshore markets by using rail to move products to the tidewater ports. Existing rail infrastructure provided ready, economic, and simplified access offshore markets and increased oil prices to all stakeholders in western Canada, including governments who collect taxes and royalties.

2016

During 2016, the amount of oil that the industry moved by rail was reduced. Terminal operators like Altex, whose contracts and focus were on heavy oil without the use of diluent, were impacted less than other terminal operators. At times during the year, we were moving the majority of oil being moved anywhere in industry by rail.

We saw the opportunity to expand our service offerings and worked with customers and partners to start moving used engine oil from Western Canada to refinery locations as well as looking at moving other oilfield wastes. We initiated a project to repair railcars at our terminal sites and continued to store oil, railcars, fertilizer and farm equipment at our well-equipped terminal sites.

We saw the opportunity to provide tidewater access and potentially higher oil prices to stakeholders in Western Canada by using rail to move oil to offshore markets. While we have loaded oil in previous years that was moved by customers to offshore markets, a concerted effort to build this business has benefits both to stakeholders on the production side but also offshore purchasers.

2015

We completed our next major expansion at Lashburn for a major global integrated oil company providing unit train capability to markets. This made Lashburn one of the largest rail terminal facilities in Western Canada capable of loading and moving 200 or more railcars per day.

As the price of oil fell in late 2014 and early 2015, we recognized the potential impact on our business and took steps to adjust our business plan to deal with the new reality of the oil industry. Rail continues to provide economic, safe and effective access to markets. Oil production is still expected to grow in the years ahead, as major projects that take years to complete are finished. Growth beyond that point and the needs for egress options will be dependent on future oil prices.

2014

In the fall of 2014, Altex commissioned an expansion of our Lashburn terminal, with storage space for over 250 railcars on site. Lashburn was then capable of loading and moving over 60 railcars per day.

Lashburn is expanding to unit train capacity with more tanks, railcar storage, and truck rail car loading spots.

2013

Construction of the major terminal at Lynton continued through the year and was commissioned in early 2014.

In the fall of 2013, Altex opened its terminal in the Peace River area of Alberta at Falher. This large site is capable of moving oil immediately at up to 10 railcars per day, and can be readily expanded to larger volumes. Existing buildings on site provided opportunity to also work with frac sand and fertilizer as well as providing storage for agricultural and oilfield equipment.

2012

In June 2012, Altex was contracted by an oil sands producer to build a terminal in Ft. McMurray (Lynton) to transport their oil to markets in the USA.

Altex also operated a small site at Wainwright, Alberta adding to Altex’s growing number of terminals.

2011

Altex had a positive response to our new business. The market demand grew from these few “test” shipments from Lloydminster. The Altex system expanded with the addition of Lashburn, SK in 2011. This terminal was the first in Canada to add tanks to the process, allowing improved turnaround for truckers. Originally designed to move 6 railcars per day, the facility expanded to 32 railcars per day with tanks and track storage for in excess of 100 cars.

2008 – 2010

The idea of moving crude oil by rail is not new. This has been done in North America back to the drilling of the first wells in Titusville, Pennsylvania in the 1860’s. It also had helped move oil out of the Bakken area of North Dakota after its production grew significantly in the first decade of the 2000’s. It hadn’t been done in significant quantity in Canada though for many years.

As Altex developed the business, one important choice was whose railway system was best-advantaged to access crude oil production. Canadian National (“CN”) owns the track up to Ft McMurray and the Peace River areas, and the delivery systems to eastern Canada, Chicago, Canada’s West Coast and the US Gulf Coast. Altex approached CN in the early part of 2008 to explore the opportunity of working together and ultimately joined forces in 2008, in recognition of the synergies between our companies. Our partnership increases the value of the expertise and strengths we both bring to this solution. Our common goal is to ensure a seamless interconnectivity along the bitumen supply chain.

Together we spent 3 years developing rail as an alternative to pipelines. Through many joint presentations and conferences and through articles in the press, many in the oil industry began to realize the value of our rail system approach and the true cost of shipping oil by pipeline.

In the fall of 2010, Altex moved our first railcars of crude oil out of CN’s yard in Lloydminster, Alberta reintroducing crude movements by rail to Canada.