TMX crude linefill starts in April, May: MEG

The operator of the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) in western Canada is calling for a combined 4.2mn bl of crude from shippers starting next month as it prepares to fill the new pipeline, according to producer MEG Energy.

Canada's 590,000 b/d TMX pipeline yesterday made a call for 2.1mn bl of linefill in April and another 2.1mn bl in May, said MEG Energy's chief executive Derek Evans today. The combined volume represents almost all of the 4.4mn bl line fill Trans Mountain had previously said it needed for its expansion project.

"We see this as incredibly positive," said Evans today. "Good news for not only us, but really everybody in the heavy oil business. That incremental egress will substantially reduce that [heavy crude] differential."

Heavy crude producer MEG is a committed shipper on TMX and plans to move 20,000 b/d on the line connecting Edmonton, Alberta, to Burnaby, British Columbia. The now C$34bn ($25bn) project has been mired in construction and regulatory delays, but has only one small section in British Columbia left to finish.

Trans Mountain plans by 4 March to start installing the last section of pipe in a tunnel about 100 kilometres east of Vancouver and said this week it intends on starting operations in the second quarter of this year.

TMX and the existing Trans Mountain system will combine for 890,000 b/d of capacity for Albertan oil producers to the west coast.

By Brett Holmes