Question about the Come By Chance Refinery?
Jan 21st 2021, 7:08 pm
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Question about the Come By Chance Refinery?
I have a question about the refinery in Come By Chance ( That's in Newfoundland).
Apart from the fact that they announced the closure, I was always wondering, why Come By Chance was ever chosen for the location of the refinery? I mean there isn't much there, not a large population, not even access to a railroad for easy access to mainland Canada? I'd say, anywhere in Nova Scotia would logistically probably have been a better choice.
Apart from the fact that they announced the closure, I was always wondering, why Come By Chance was ever chosen for the location of the refinery? I mean there isn't much there, not a large population, not even access to a railroad for easy access to mainland Canada? I'd say, anywhere in Nova Scotia would logistically probably have been a better choice.
Last edited by OrangeMango; Jan 21st 2021 at 7:17 pm.
Jan 21st 2021, 8:00 pm
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Re: Question about the Come By Chance Refinery?
https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/...-by-chance.php
In 1967, Shaheen’s proposal seemed straightforward: build the refinery, import crude oil from the Middle East and produce a versatile range of products, .... The refinery would process approximately 100,000 barrels a day for sale in North America and employ up to 1,000 people. Both Shaheen and Smallwood believed Come By Chance was a suitable site for the oil refinery because of its ice-free, deep-water harbour and easy access to a railway, highway, and the world’s shipping lanes.
Last edited by Siouxie; Jan 21st 2021 at 8:03 pm.
Jan 21st 2021, 8:15 pm
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Re: Question about the Come By Chance Refinery?
Is there no ice free deep water harbour option in Nova Scotia? Or possibly even New Brunswick? It surprises me that there was never a competition on locations. Nova Scotia should easily be in the focus of international shipping lanes.... And then Newfoundland is still an island, where you'd have to get the oil logistically somewhere else. The highway doesn't go anywhere exciting in terms of large population sizes. Port aux Basques or Stephenville or Corner Brooks or Gander are neither large enough cities nor any other large size potential....
Last edited by OrangeMango; Jan 21st 2021 at 8:21 pm.
Jan 21st 2021, 8:32 pm
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Re: Question about the Come By Chance Refinery?
Thanks for that. Yes I knew that Newfoundland has had a railroad at some point, even imported steam engines from England as well, but I also thought that the service ceased way before the 1960ies.
Is there no ice free deep water harbour option in Nova Scotia? Or possibly even New Brunswick? It surprises me that there was never a competition on locations. Nova Scotia should easily be in the focus of international shipping lanes.... And then Newfoundland is still an island, where you'd have to get the oil logistically somewhere else. The highway doesn't go anywhere exciting in terms of large population sizes. Port aux Basques or Stephenville or Corner Brooks or Gander are neither large enough cities nor any other large size potential....
Is there no ice free deep water harbour option in Nova Scotia? Or possibly even New Brunswick? It surprises me that there was never a competition on locations. Nova Scotia should easily be in the focus of international shipping lanes.... And then Newfoundland is still an island, where you'd have to get the oil logistically somewhere else. The highway doesn't go anywhere exciting in terms of large population sizes. Port aux Basques or Stephenville or Corner Brooks or Gander are neither large enough cities nor any other large size potential....
This is probably the reason why it was built there rather than any other area
...The Government of Canada later criticized Smallwood when he arranged for the province to own the refinery through three Crown corporations........The plan provided Come By Chance with a unique economic advantage over other competing refineries, as Crown corporations are exempt from Canadian income tax and provincial taxes
By mid-1972, a crew of some 2,000 labourers .... had also laid a spur track to the railway and an access road to the Trans-Canada Highway.
Last edited by Siouxie; Jan 21st 2021 at 8:37 pm.
Jan 21st 2021, 8:44 pm
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Re: Question about the Come By Chance Refinery?
Sadly the link doesn't open. I am currently stuck in Europe. Don't know if it's an IP address issue?
The Come By Chance refinery has changed hands many times. I think some American company was also interested last year, prior to the announcement that they had to close.
I've driven on the Trans Canada Highway through Newfoundland quite a bit, and always noticed the refinery. If you're driving from St. John's to Gander you can see it from very very far away.
It always baffled me why somebody would build a refinery in the middle of nowhere. But by Newfoundland standards that's probably not in the middle of nowhere. However I thought that somewhere in Nova Scotia would have been more appropriate, plus one can also connect it with an pipeline. As far as I know Newfoundland isn't connected by pipeline at all.
Jan 21st 2021, 8:55 pm
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Re: Question about the Come By Chance Refinery?
Sadly the link doesn't open. I am currently stuck in Europe. Don't know if it's an IP address issue?
The Come By Chance refinery has changed hands many times. I think some American company was also interested last year, prior to the announcement that they had to close.
I've driven on the Trans Canada Highway through Newfoundland quite a bit, and always noticed the refinery. If you're driving from St. John's to Gander you can see it from very very far away.
It always baffled me why somebody would build a refinery in the middle of nowhere. But by Newfoundland standards that's probably not in the middle of nowhere. However I thought that somewhere in Nova Scotia would have been more appropriate, plus one can also connect it with an pipeline. As far as I know Newfoundland isn't connected by pipeline at all.
The Come By Chance refinery has changed hands many times. I think some American company was also interested last year, prior to the announcement that they had to close.
I've driven on the Trans Canada Highway through Newfoundland quite a bit, and always noticed the refinery. If you're driving from St. John's to Gander you can see it from very very far away.
It always baffled me why somebody would build a refinery in the middle of nowhere. But by Newfoundland standards that's probably not in the middle of nowhere. However I thought that somewhere in Nova Scotia would have been more appropriate, plus one can also connect it with an pipeline. As far as I know Newfoundland isn't connected by pipeline at all.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.c...nt=firefox-b-d
http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...trip=1&vwsrc=0
Jan 21st 2021, 9:41 pm
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Re: Question about the Come By Chance Refinery?
Oh darn, that's strange indeed as it's the Newfoundland Heritage website.. try using one of these cached versions to view it - if you can't then do a google search for ' heritage.nf.ca come by chance ' and then click on the small arrow next to the search result that goes to that website and click on 'cached'
https://webcache.googleusercontent.c...nt=firefox-b-d
http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...trip=1&vwsrc=0
https://webcache.googleusercontent.c...nt=firefox-b-d
http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...trip=1&vwsrc=0
Thanks. The link works. The whole story reads a bit like many misfortunes in NL.
However if you ever have a chance to visit some time post pandemic, I'd highly recommend it.
Maybe Come By Chance is really the location, as an issue.
Imperial Oil has a refinery in Dartmouth NS, and Irving has a refinery in Sain John NB. Both locations which pretty clear why they were chosen.
Last edited by OrangeMango; Jan 21st 2021 at 9:47 pm.
Jan 21st 2021, 10:02 pm
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Re: Question about the Come By Chance Refinery?
