Trans Mountain could be delayed until late 2020
Kinder Morgan cites issues with permitting process
Kinder Morgan Canada’s controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has encountered further delays, the company said Wednesday, citing ongoing permitting issues.
Kinder Morgan had initially expected the $7.4-billion project, which will carry 590,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta to Burnaby, B.C., to be in service by late 2019, but now is targeting December 2020 for start-up.
“We expect the NEB to issue another decision in the near future on establishing a fair, transparent and expedited backstop process for resolving any similar delays in other provincial and municipal permitting processes, but at this stage we are still pursuing a primarily permitting strategy for the project, and are now projecting an unmitigated delay to a December 2020 in-service date,” Kinder Morgan Canada chairman Steve Kean said in a release.
“We also acknowledged the need to see more progress before it would be prudent to ramp up to full construction spending,” Kean said during a fourth-quarter earnings call Wednesday.
Kean said that a December ruling from the National Energy Board was a positive development because it allowed Kinder Morgan Canada to bypass some local permitting processes in places like Burnaby, which had refused to grant construction permits.
“Local governments are not typically in opposition,” Kean said of Burnaby, and added the project can now proceed even without Burnaby’s permits. “It is essential for us to know that we can move forward even if local governments are opposed,” he said.
Kinder Morgan has also applied to the NEB to establish a similar process for the company to get necessary permits from other opposed governments. “We expect the NEB to issue another decision in the near future on establishing a fair, transparent and expedited backstop process for resolving any similar delays in other provincial and municipal permitting processes,” he said in a release.
Major oilsands producers including Suncor Energy Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. have committed to send their barrels down the pipeline.