The energy sector of Canada and also the major oil-producing province of Canada had celebrations on Wednesday following the coming online of the Trans Mountain as the Trans-Mountain Pipeline Expansion Opens.
The Crown corporation Trans Mountain Corp. released a statement on Wednesday that confirmed the movement of oil in the newly expanded pipeline in Canada, which currently is at 70 per cent full as the crude oil keeps on to be added to the brand new pipeline system.
The company revealed that the so-called “Golden Weld”, which is the last piece of construction work that was needed to finalize the construction works at the pipeline, was done on the 11th of April in B.C.’s Fraser Valley, located between both the communities of Hope and Chilliwack.
“It is quite evident that the Trans Mountain pipeline project has indicated that the challenging, and long linear infrastructure can be constructed here in Canada,” stated the CEO of Trans Mountain Corp. Dawn Farrell.
“Under the leadership of our project management team and also the contractors of the project, we managed to construct 988 kilometers of new pipeline, another total of 193 kilometers of reactivated pipeline, a total of 12 new pump stations, 19 brand new storage tanks, and lastly a total of three brand new berths at the Westridge Marine Terminal that is located in Burnaby.”
“Indeed it is a big day for Canada, to get this mega pipeline project up and functioning,” stated the CEO of Cenovus Energy Inc. Jon McKenzie on a conference call that was held with analysts on Wednesday morning.
Importance of the Trans-Mountain Pipeline Expansion
“The people of Canada are yet to see the general benefit of the Trans Mountain Pipeline project for a long period of time in matters regarding increase in taxes and also the royalties set and the like.” Additionally, Alberta premier Danielle Smith also applauded this major milestone, stating in a news release that the expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline Project will see the dawn of a new era of both prosperity and economy growth of Canada in general. The completion of the TMX is also deemed to be quite monumental for Alberta. It will become a game-changer for Alberta as the world shall need more of the Alberta sourced reliable and sustainable energy in huge quantities.
Capacity of the New Pipeline
The expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline shall increase the shipping capacity of the pipeline remarkably from 300,000 barrels in as single day up to 890, 000 barrels in a day. The expansion project comprised of twinning an already existing pipeline that runs all the way from Alberta up to the B.C. coast. This increased crude oil capacity is expected to foresee an improvement in the products received by the Canadian oil companies.
As the project is being celebrated by the whole of the energy sector of Canada as a big win, it is important to note that it was not achieved easily.
Challenges that Faced the Expansion Project
The expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline was first proposed in the year 2012 by Kinder Morgan Canada. It got to encounter quite a number of environmental and Indigenous opposition which almost led to scuttling of the project.
The Canadian federal government bought the pipeline at a price of $4.5 billion in the year 2018 with an effort to get the project past the finish line. Upon the commencement of the construction on the expansion works, the project encountered several delays and got to encounter several delays and even budget overruns, which eventually led to the spiraling of its price tag over the course of 4 years to an eye-popping $34 billion.
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