The chief executive of Crown-owned pipeline operator Trans Mountain Corp. says the Alberta-to-British-Columbia conduit has been running at almost full capacity lately, and expansions it and fellow operator Enbridge Inc. are pursuing should provide relief when it’s needed.
Trans Mountain said in its third-quarter financial report Thursday that the pipeline averaged 87 per cent utilization during the three months ended Sept. 30, with record throughput of 777,000 barrels per day.
But in the months since, it’s been at 90 per cent or higher, CEO Mark Maki said in an interview Friday.
“Seasonally, to be around 90 to 95 per cent full is not a bad place to be. But that is indicating things are getting a little snug,” he said.
The pipeline has a total capacity of 890,000 barrels a day.
Maki said he expects volumes to dip in the second and third quarter of next year, as oilsands plants undergo seasonal maintenance and they have fewer barrels to send through the pipe.
“But by the time you get to ’27, we’re probably consistently full all the time and so you need something in that window,” he said.
Trans Mountain aims to boost capacity on the pipeline, which runs from Edmonton to a marine terminal in Burnaby, B.C., by up to 360,000 barrels per day over five years.
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First, Trans Mountain aims to add chemical agents to help crude flow more efficiently through the pipeline. That’s expected to increase the system’s capacity by 10 per cent and come online late next year or early in 2027.
Next, Trans Mountain would add pump stations and modifications, and install 30 kilometres of new pipe. The earliest construction would start is in mid-2027, when work is also set to begin on improvements to a branch of the system heading into Washington state.
Enbridge Inc., Canada’s biggest crude shipper, recently announced US$1.4 billion in capacity expansions to its backbone Canadian Mainline, which stretches across the country, as well as its U.S. network.
Trans Mountain is expecting capital returns to its owner, the Canadian government, of $1.7 billion this year in the form of interest, fees and dividends. That’s higher than the $1.25 billion it had been expecting at the end of the second quarter.
Maki said the improved outlook was the result of better volumes and lower costs than expected.
Ottawa bought the pipeline for $4.5 billion in 2018 after Kinder Morgan Canada walked away from it amid fierce environmental opposition and court challenges.
It ended up costing more than $34 billion by the time it started up in May of 2024.
On Thursday, Trans Mountain said it earned $127 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a loss of $68 million a year ago.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $765 million, up from $666 million.
Over the time the pipeline has been operating, 60 per cent of seaborne cargoes have gone to Asian markets, mainly China. Tankers also headed to California, Alaska and Washington state.
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