Alberta has proposed to build a new oil pipeline to the British Columbia coast that could carry up to 1 million barrels daily of crude oil, to be exported to Asian markets.
The Calgary Herald reported the provincial government was ready to commit C$14 million to early planning for the project, with Premier Danielle Smith expressing hope the project could get federal approval as early as next month.
Opposition, however, has been swift. The Premier of British Columbia said that “The problem that we have is Smith continues to advance a project that is taxpayer-funded, has no private sector proponent, is not a real project and is incredibly alarming to British Columbians, especially First Nations along the coast,” as quoted by Global News.
Indeed, a representative of several coastal First Nations said they would not support a new pipeline project “now or ever,” according to a report by CBC News. “This is not something that we would ever support,” Marylin Slett told the publication. “There is no project that … we would ever support the lifting of that moratorium,” referring to a ban on oil tankers for northern British Columbia ports.
“I think coastal provinces have a special obligation to be generous and make sure we’re creating access to ports for all of our products,” Alberta’s Smith said.
The Alberta government has been pushing for new oil pipeline capacity to expand Canadian oil’s access to international markets for a while now, but British Columbia’s government has been against it from the start.
“The only way that pipeline across the north gets built is if the government of Alberta and the federal government pony up tens of billions of tax dollars to build it,” B.C. Premier David Eby said in September, as quoted by Bloomberg, estimating the potential price tag of such an infrastructure project at some $C$60 billion, equal to around $43 billion.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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