CALGARY –
Wednesday marks the official begin date of the long-awaited $34-billion Trans Mountain oil pipeline growth undertaking.
Crown company Trans Mountain Corp. says as of Wednesday, the expanded pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast can be transporting crude oil.
The undertaking concerned twinning an present pipeline that runs from Alberta to the B.C. coast.
It took greater than 4 years to assemble, and was some of the pricey infrastructure tasks in Canadian historical past.
The growth will increase the Trans Mountain system’s delivery capability from 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000 barrels per day, and can assist open up world export markets for Canadian oil.
The elevated capability is anticipated to assist enhance the value Canadian oil corporations obtain for his or her product.
However although the undertaking is now full, query marks linger because the federal authorities has mentioned it intends to promote the pipeline.
The federal government bought the pipeline for $4.5 billion in 2018 in an effort to get the undertaking over the end line, and has acknowledged it doesn’t want to be its long-term proprietor.
Consultants say as a result of the undertaking’s price ticket ballooned over the course of building, the federal government will possible take a major writedown if it sells.
Firms that ship oil on Trans Mountain are actually topic to the brand new expanded system’s tariffs and tolls. However Trans Mountain is at present locked in a dispute with its oil firm prospects about these rising charges.
The Crown company has mentioned the upper charges are mandatory to assist to cowl the finances overruns, which it has mentioned had been attributable to issues just like the COVID-19 pandemic, excessive climate, and the necessity to take care of archeologically vital websites alongside the pipeline’s route.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Might 1, 2024.
