'Northern Leg' to Trans Mountain pipeline attracts interest amid brewing trade war
A long-shelved proposal to build a northern branch off the Trans Mountain pipeline system to the northern British Columbia coast is attracting renewed interest as the Canadian oilpatch and federal and provincial governments grapple with a response to new trade headwinds with the United States.
The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX) may have sufficient capacity to support a so-called TMX Northern Leg, which would involve constructing a new lateral pipeline branch off the mainline near Valemount, B.C., to carry crude to an export terminal in Kitimat, according to sources familiar with the federally owned pipeline system.
The 300,000-to-400,000-barrel-per-day (b/d) expansion was part of former pipeline owner Kinder Morgan Inc.’s original plans for a multi-stage TMX program, which was laid out in previous service agreements with shippers and in 2011 submissions to the federal regulator over pipeline tolls and tariffs.
However, by the time Kinder Morgan filed its official 2013 application for the project with the National Energy Board (NEB), the Northern Leg was not part of the proposal.
At the time, the company said it favoured twinning the existing 1,500-kilometre pipeline south due to the risk of higher costs and greater cost uncertainty associated with the northern route, according to its submission to the NEB.
But sources familiar with the pipeline say the Northern Leg remains an option and that the TMX was built with sufficient capacity along its length from Edmonton through Jasper National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park to handle it.
Trans Mountain Corp. (TMC) on Friday said any significant changes to the pipeline system, including an expansion, would be subject to regulatory approval.
“The Northern Leg is
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