Future of Trans Mountain pipeline expansion as long-awaited project opens

It’s years behind schedule and 10s of billions of dollars over budget, but oil is now flowing through the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which the federal government bought in 2018. The expansion means more Canadian crude is now being shipped from Alberta to the BC coast. It nearly triples the flow of oil to 890,000 barrels per day, and it expands access to lucrative global markets beyond the US Trans Mountains. Original owner Kinder Morgan walked away from it, and Prime Minister Trudeau’s decision to buy it for $4.5 billion was deeply controversial. The cost to complete it has since ballooned to a staggering 34 billion at the Eurox. W explains what Canadians are getting from that investment. Controversial and expensive, twinning Western Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline proved to be a nearly impossible task. Seeing its completion has many in Canada’s energy sector breathing a heavy sigh of relief. It’s a big deal. We’ve been waiting for this for many years. It’s hard to build big pipelines and getting this done, although it’s been very expensive and very delayed. Is finally something that’s going to give market access to Canada, which is one of the bigger oil producers in the world. Until now, Canada has only been able to export its oil to North American markets, sending its heavy crude by pipeline or rail across Western Canada to the American Midwest or the Gulf Coast. But the TMX pipeline expansion will allow Canada to export directly to international customers via the Pacific Ocean with new buyers in California, China and India. The average taxpayer will see some impact. This will bump our economy and thank you. As the Bank of Canada forecasted to bump the GDP at 5.25%, this one single project which is a big deal. Of course, as the owner of much of Canada’s oil resource, Alberta stands to see the most financial gains with provincial royalty payments tied to the price of Western Canadian crude, which because of its limited market access has sold at a steep discount. Because we now have another customer to sell to, we’re going to see higher prices for all of our Western Canada select product. In the past, there’s been a heavy discount. I’ve been told by my department officials it’s probably a couple of billion dollars additional revenues that we would get. While the new pipeline may be pumping, the TMX story is far from done. It’s still owned by taxpayers and Ottawa has made clear its intention to divest with questions around how long the infrastructure will be profitable as the world makes its transition away from what’s flowing inside. Heather, UX W Global News, Calgary.