“[A new pipeline] is not an economic project… it has high risk and it’s disruptive.”
–Adrian Dix
The B.C. government does not support a new oil pipeline from Alberta, but it does support expanding the capacity of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline and dredging Vancouver’s harbour to maximize tanker exports, says the province’s energy minister.
Adrian Dix said he’s growing weary of a political debate framed by the Alberta government that pits B.C. against Canadian oil, instead urging that province to coalesce around what he views as a more realistic option to expand Trans Mountain.
“Our position is not ungenerous to Alberta, and a serious position,” he said in an interview.
It cost the federal government $34 billion to twin TMX from Edmonton to Burnaby, which added 590,000 barrels per day in capacity when it came online last year.
Dix said a new pipeline through to B.C.’s northwest coast would be even more expensive, because it would cover more difficult terrain.
“There’s other proposals for the current TMX line that could increase the production by 250,000 barrels per day for about, all in, $4 billion dollars,” said Dix.
“The pipeline got built. I opposed it at the time, but it got built.”
Adrian Dix
“So if you can do half as many more barrels, for one-twelfth the price, that’s the choice you are facing.”
Trans Mountain assessing capacity expansion
Trans Mountain CEO Mark Maki confirmed the capacity expansion proposal to reporters at a conference in Calgary on Wednesday and said it could be in place by 2027. It would require the use of chemicals to make crude flow more easily through the line, plus additional pumping stations.
But news agency Bloomberg, which reported on Maki’s remarks, said it would need to be accompanied by dredging the Burrard Inlet to allow oil tankers to carry the additional barrels.
Dix said the province would support the dredging, though it would have to be done by the federal government. Currently, tankers are only able to fill to 70 to 80 per cent before their weight leaves them at risk of hitting the seafloor and unable to get under the Second Narrows Bridge.
“We spent $34.2 billion to arrive at a location with all the oil where you can’t bring it out of the harbour with all the biggest boats,” said Dix.
“Right now what they do often is the tanker goes down the United States coast and gets filled up.”
Dix infamously opposed the TMX expansion as BC NDP leader in the 2013 election, and lost. After the NDP formed government in 2017, it unsuccessfully used the courts, legislation and political threats to try and stop the expansion. But Dix said that history is immaterial to him now trying to maximize the TMX expansion.
“The pipeline got built. I opposed it at the time, but it got built,” he said.
“As a practical matter, if you spend $34 billion on something, as taxpayers, you should get full value on it.”
The government-owned Trans Mountain said it is in the early stages of the expansion idea.
“Trans Mountain’s assessment is that the most cost-effective way to increase export capacity is to optimize the system,” the company said in a statement.
“We have begun the process of preliminary design work. Any future proposed work will be subject to all necessary regulatory review and appropriate stakeholder engagement and Indigenous consultation.”
Alberta and BC at odds over new oil pipeline prospect
The debate between Alberta and B.C. over a new oil pipeline has been raging for weeks. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said it would be a project of national economic interest, to help get Canadian oil to the B.C. coast for export during a tariff war with the United States.
Eby has said he does not support the proposal, but also that it is hypothetical because no proponent has come forward to express interest in actually building a new pipeline.
Smith told the Global Energy Show in Calgary on Wednesday that she has taken up the challenge from Eby and Prime Minister Mark Carney to find a company willing to build.
“Well, that’s my job. There will be [a proponent] soon.”
Danielle Smith
“What I’ve heard them say recently is there’s no project – no project and no proponent,” Smith said, in comments reported by the Globe and Mail.
“Well, that’s my job. There will be soon. We’re working very hard on being able to get industry players, private-sector players, to realize this time might be different.”
Dix said he doesn’t believe it, and he’s done talking about it.
“No one is going to build it.”
Adrian Dix
“The pipeline in the north would face significant technical difficulties,” he said.
“The terrain isn’t ideal… so you’re talking about hundreds of stream crossings and natural habitats.
“That’s at least a doubling of capital costs. In short, no one is going to build it.”
He doesn’t dispute Alberta’s right to try, but said an additional barrier would be that British Columbia also does not support Ottawa repealing the coastal tanker ban, which would be required to transport oil from any new pipeline.
“It’s not an economic project,” he said. “It has high risk and it’s disruptive. And in my view it won’t happen.
“We’ve spent a week, every time we’re talking about these things, talking about this pipeline proposal. And there are better things to do. For example the north coast transmission line. Better things to do for our country.”