Alberta and Ottawa pitch new oil pipeline to British Columbia
Global news says shippers must sign long contracts after Trans Mountain taxpayer bill, national interest label arrives before customers do
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Canada’s federal government and Alberta have pitched a new oil pipeline to a deepwater port in southern British Columbia as a “project in the national interest,” according to Global News. The proposal would run alongside the existing Trans Mountain line, after the Trans Mountain expansion ended up costing taxpayers more than $34 billion before it began pumping oil in 2024.
The sales pitch is familiar: export capacity, Asian markets, jobs, and “transformational wealth,” in Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s phrase. Prime Minister Mark Carney, Global News reports, said the project would “unlock Alberta’s energy for the world” and attract many billions of dollars of investment. The timeline described—construction potentially starting in 2027, oil flowing as soon as 2033—pushes the payoff far beyond the current political cycle.
Industry veterans quoted by Global News focus less on engineering than on signatures. Dennis McConaghy, a retired energy executive, questioned whether there will be customers and whether major oil sands producers will commit to the additional production needed to fill the pipe. Richard Masson, former head of Alberta’s petroleum marketing agency, said the tolls could be materially higher than Trans Mountain’s—while shippers typically do not make 20-year commitments unless they are confident about supply and competitiveness.
That matters because the market already has alternatives. Global News notes that other expansions are underway, collectively adding more than a million barrels per day of capacity and described as lower risk, quicker and cheaper. A new mega-project therefore has to persuade producers to bypass nearer-term options and lock themselves into long contracts—unless governments again find ways to shift risk away from shippers.
The last major attempt showed how that risk transfer works in practice. Trans Mountain was framed as a nation-building asset; the bill ultimately landed with the public when costs rose and the project changed hands. A second line beside it would ask investors to believe that this time the commercial negotiations will carry the load.
Global News reports that the proposal has been filed with Ottawa’s Major Projects Office. The route is still a concept, but the precedent is already built into the balance sheet.