Canada regulator wraps up Trans Mountain pipeline variance hearing (updated)

Canada Energy Partners

12/01/2024 22:07

(changes media identifier; Adds details from hearing)
    By Nia Williams
       Jan 12 (Reuters) - The Canada Energy Regulator (CER) on
Friday said it would issue a decision on a variance request from
the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project "in due course,"
following a one-day oral hearing in Calgary.
    Trans Mountain has asked to be allowed to install
smaller-diameter pipe in a 1.4-mile (2.3-km) section of the oil
pipeline's route after encountering "very challenging" drilling
conditions due to the hardness of the rock in a mountainous area
between Hope and Chilliwack.
    The CER denied that request on Dec. 5, prompting Trans
Mountain to then ask the regulator to reverse the decision on
the grounds it could cause a "catastrophic" two-year delay and
billions of dollars in losses.
    During Friday's oral hearing, the CER asked Trans Mountain
to address outstanding questions about the quality of materials
it intended to use for the smaller section of pipe and how it
would conduct inspections within the pipeline.
        Tran Mountain's lawyer Sander Duncanson urged the CER to
make a decision on the variance request quickly. The
long-delayed project is meant to start operating by the end of
March.
  
        "Every day of delay in this installation will likely
delay the ultimate in-service date for the project. Every week
of delay...will cost Trans Mountain alone approximately C$50
million ($37.30 million)," Duncanson said.
  
        The C$30.9-billion Trans Mountain expansion will nearly
triple the flow of crude from Alberta to Canada's Pacific Coast
but has been plagued by years of regulatory delays and massive
cost over-runs.
  
        Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government
bought the pipeline in 2018 to ensure the expansion, intended to
open up Asian refining markets to Canadian producers, went
ahead.
  
        Concerns about further delays and the variance request
being rejected have weighed on Canadian 
    heavy crude prices
     in recent months.
  

($1 = 1.3404 Canadian dollars)

 (Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Leslie Adler and
Franklin Paul)
 ((nia.williams@thomsonreuters.com; +1 403 531 1624; Reuters
Messaging: nia.williams.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))