The cost of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, purchased by Ottawa in 2019, is now estimated at $21.4 billion. That’s up $9 billion from the company’s last estimate, which was already billions of dollars higher than the original cost of the project.
The last cost estimate anticipated a much less expensive projectat $12.6 billion.
In a press release, the company justifies this increase of nearly $ 9 billion by the repercussions of the pandemic and the floods in British Columbia. The natural disaster had forced the temporary interruption of the main pipeline.
Originally, the project was to cost $7.4 billion. It is now three times more expensive.
The in-service date for the expanded pipeline has also been pushed back nearly a year. The company has so far mentioned that the pipeline will be usable in December 2022. The final construction work is now scheduled for the third quarter of 2023.
Despite these delays and cost increases, Trans Mountain President and CEO Ian Anderson maintains that the project will be profitable for Canada.
The Trans Mountain project aims to triple the capacity of the existing pipeline, increasing it from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels of oil per day.
More details to come
