The chief executive at Trans Mountain Corp. says there should be ample pipeline space to get Canadian crude oil to market until at least 2030 without the need for a whole new project being built from scratch.
Mark Maki says at the rate production has been growing, existing pipelines out of Alberta are on track to fill up around 2027 as they’re currently configured.
But he says his company and other pipeline firms have small-scale projects in the works to retool their networks to boost throughput, which should give the industry a few more years’ worth of runway to accommodate forecast production.
Maki says Trans Mountain has been testing the use of chemical additives to help crude flow more smoothly through the pipeline, which connects Alberta to a marine port near Vancouver.
He expects the Crown corporation will hold an open season later this year for the additional capacity that initiative will allow — essentially an invitation for producers to commit more barrels to the pipeline.
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Maki made his remarks in an interview ahead of the release of Trans Mountain’s second-quarter results, which included a $150-million profit, reversing a $48-million year-earlier loss.
He said projects to boost volumes on existing pipelines, through the drag-reducing agents and adding pumping power, can be done relatively quickly, without the need to rush a whole new project.
“You optimize your existing pipeline first,” he said. “That gives you time to evaluate market, do your routing work, your design and all the rest on a new pipeline.
“That would be a pretty reasonable way to go at this. It doesn’t need to be on the major projects list tomorrow necessarily, but it gives you time to do the work, to have a really good project to put on the list.”
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said she’d like to see a new oil pipeline built to the Port of Prince Rupert on the northern B.C. coast, enabling more exports to Asia.
She has said such a proposal would be a test of a new federal regime to review projects deemed in the national interest on an expedited timeline.
No company has come forward with a proposal to build a second West Coast oil pipeline. The CEO of Enbridge Inc. has said that the company would only consider pitching a new pipeline in Canada if the right policies were in place to instil confidence.
Maki said Trans Mountain would be willing to share its “intellectual capital” on such an endeavour, providing know-how based on its experience. But he noted that Prime Minister Mark Carney has made it clear he’d like to see the private sector take the lead, which would count federally owned Trans Mountain out as the builder.
The expanded Trans Mountain pipeline, which came into service in May 2024, shipped 730,000 barrels per day during the first half of the year, about 82 per cent of its total capacity of 890,000 barrels.
Maki said the pipeline’s volumes ebb and flow depending on the time of year, and the line is expected to be much fuller in the second half of the year, about 90 per cent.
“If the system is entirely full — we’re entirely full and everybody’s entirely full — that’s when the differential blows out,” he said, referring to the discount heavy western Canadian crude gets on the market versus easier-to-refine light oil.
“There’s nowhere else for that incremental barrel to go, so you do want some slack in the overall network — not a lot, but some.”
The company also said Wednesday that it’s on track to return $1.25 billion to Ottawa in through interest, fees and dividends by year-end.
