Commercial operations for the 590,000 b/d Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) crude pipeline in western Canada have officially started today, but tankers will not be able to load crude from the line until later this month.
Line fill activities, which began on 16 April, are still ongoing for the C$34bn ($25bn) project that stretches from Edmonton, Alberta, to the docks in Burnaby, British Columbia. About 70pc of the volumes needed are in the 1,181 kilometre (733 mile) line, Trans Mountain said on Wednesday.
"As of today, all deliveries for shippers will be subject to the Expanded System tariff and tolls, and tankers will be able to receive oil from Line 2 by mid-May," Trans Mountain said.
Aframax-size crude tankers started to take position on the west coast last month in anticipation of the new line. But the inability to deliver crude at Burnaby, while still having to pay full tolls, was a concern raised by several shippers on 23 April.
"Trans Mountain must be able to receive, transport and deliver a shipper's contract volume," the shippers said in a letter to the CER. The ability to deliver the crude is "clearly central and fundamental qualities of firm service."
The CER in November approved interim tolls for the system that will further connect Albertan oil sands producers to Pacific Rim markets. Shippers will, at least initially, pay C$11.46/bl to move crude from Edmonton, Alberta, to the Westridge terminal in Burnaby, British Columbia. The fixed portion accounts for C$10.88/bl of this and has nearly doubled from a C$5.76/bl estimate in 2017.
The Canada Energy Regulator (CER) on 30 April gave Trans Mountain a green light to put TMX into service, ending years of uncertainty that the project would ever be completed.
The expansion project, or Line 2, nearly triples the capacity of Canadian crude that can flow to the Pacific coast, complementing the original 300,000 b/d line, or Line 1, that has been operating since 1953.
