Oilbent was suggesting in the other forum that pod1 be expanded instead of the refinery.  I started to write back a reply, then decided to post it here instead, where there will be more of an intelligent discussion.  Comments are welcome:

"Oilbent, why suggest expanding Pod 1 instead of expanding the refinery?  As I understand it, the surplus is on the supply side in the industry, and the margins (albeit lower in the past year) are still on the refinery side. 

The bitumen in pod1 isn't going anywhere.  Why increase extraction to 2.5 times, and run the life of the pod out in 10 years instead of 25?  Remember, new wells have to be drilled every six or seven years to reorient the plant, again as I understand it.  If you speed the cycle up so that you need to reposition every 2.5 to 3.0 years, then one third of the time that your plant is in operation, it is in the year-long ramp-up phase. 

For the refinery, on the other hand, they can always process product from other producers."