Despite a spate of lingering loose ends, the oft-delayed, over budget Trans Mountain expansion to the West Coast is heading into the homestretch amid a flurry of last-minute regulatory filings with the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER).On Monday, the company completed a brief oral hearing to change the design specifications for a two-km stretch of pipe between Hope and Chilliwack, BC, after encountering what it described as “challenging” drilling conditions.It now wants to install a segment of 30-in (76 cm) pipe instead of 36-in (91 cm) as originally planned to shorten construction time by as much as 60 days. Approval was expected to be a formality given there was no formal opposition to the proposal..“I'm very pleased to see that the Trans Mountain pipeline is near completion. And if you look at the newspapers are suggesting they might within a couple of weeks be able to call for first oil, which is pretty amazing,”Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.It comes as Trans Mountain filed a ream of hydrostatic testing certificates in anticipation of filling the line. Also included were design specifications for vessels certified to dock at its Westbridge marine terminal in Burnaby, ahead of first loadings, expected late in the first quarter of next year.The updated terminal regulations and operations guide is required by the CER “at least three months prior to loading the first tanker at the WMT with oil transported by the Project,” which Trans Mountain said it has now satisfied.Barring any further delays, that means the pipeline will likely begin pumping the first 590,000 barrels of oil per day starting sometime in March..Already, producers are eagerly anticipating higher prices from expanded markets for Canadian crude and narrower discounts vis-a-vis American benchmark West Texas Intermediate.Trans Mountain was cited as a contributing factor after the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors last Friday raised its projected well count nearly 8% to 6,229 wells.It will also be good news for the federal government, which bought the embattled project — indeed the company — from previous owner Kinder Morgan in 2018 for $4.5 billion, not including the $30.9 billion it has sunk into the line to get it built.The company has blamed a series of court challenges, protests, the pandemic and a once-in-a-generation flooding of the Lower Mainland for the delays.It is seeking to recoup those costs in the form of higher shipping tolls that have roundly been opposed by oil producers contracted on the line. A series of what are sure to be contentious public hearings likely won’t be held until the New Year.But until then, industry insiders and government officials alike are just glad to get this far. Even Alberta Premier Danielle Smith took a rare opportunity to praise the federal government on seeing it through.“I'm very pleased to see that the Trans Mountain pipeline is near completion. And if you look, the newspapers are suggesting they might within a couple of weeks be able to call for first oil, which is pretty amazing,” she said at a media briefing Monday.
Despite a spate of lingering loose ends, the oft-delayed, over budget Trans Mountain expansion to the West Coast is heading into the homestretch amid a flurry of last-minute regulatory filings with the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER).On Monday, the company completed a brief oral hearing to change the design specifications for a two-km stretch of pipe between Hope and Chilliwack, BC, after encountering what it described as “challenging” drilling conditions.It now wants to install a segment of 30-in (76 cm) pipe instead of 36-in (91 cm) as originally planned to shorten construction time by as much as 60 days. Approval was expected to be a formality given there was no formal opposition to the proposal..“I'm very pleased to see that the Trans Mountain pipeline is near completion. And if you look at the newspapers are suggesting they might within a couple of weeks be able to call for first oil, which is pretty amazing,”Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.It comes as Trans Mountain filed a ream of hydrostatic testing certificates in anticipation of filling the line. Also included were design specifications for vessels certified to dock at its Westbridge marine terminal in Burnaby, ahead of first loadings, expected late in the first quarter of next year.The updated terminal regulations and operations guide is required by the CER “at least three months prior to loading the first tanker at the WMT with oil transported by the Project,” which Trans Mountain said it has now satisfied.Barring any further delays, that means the pipeline will likely begin pumping the first 590,000 barrels of oil per day starting sometime in March..Already, producers are eagerly anticipating higher prices from expanded markets for Canadian crude and narrower discounts vis-a-vis American benchmark West Texas Intermediate.Trans Mountain was cited as a contributing factor after the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors last Friday raised its projected well count nearly 8% to 6,229 wells.It will also be good news for the federal government, which bought the embattled project — indeed the company — from previous owner Kinder Morgan in 2018 for $4.5 billion, not including the $30.9 billion it has sunk into the line to get it built.The company has blamed a series of court challenges, protests, the pandemic and a once-in-a-generation flooding of the Lower Mainland for the delays.It is seeking to recoup those costs in the form of higher shipping tolls that have roundly been opposed by oil producers contracted on the line. A series of what are sure to be contentious public hearings likely won’t be held until the New Year.But until then, industry insiders and government officials alike are just glad to get this far. Even Alberta Premier Danielle Smith took a rare opportunity to praise the federal government on seeing it through.“I'm very pleased to see that the Trans Mountain pipeline is near completion. And if you look, the newspapers are suggesting they might within a couple of weeks be able to call for first oil, which is pretty amazing,” she said at a media briefing Monday.
