Prime Minister Mark Carney threw a wrench into Alberta’s West Coast pipeline ambitions on Thursday just hours before Premier Danielle Smith was set to unveil details of the province’s long-awaited proposal.
Speaking alongside B.C. Premier David Eby in Vancouver, Carney reaffirmed that Ottawa will maintain the federal ban on oil tankers along British Columbia’s North Coast, effectively taking one of the most attractive export corridors off the table before Alberta’s proposal even reached the federal government.
The announcement came as part of a multibillion-dollar agreement between Ottawa and British Columbia aimed at advancing resource development while preserving the North Coast tanker moratorium.
Smith’s government is pitching a privately financed, one-million-barrel-per-day pipeline to Canada’s West Coast and wants Ottawa to designate it as a project of national interest. The proposal is intended to boost Canada’s export capacity, reduce dependence on the U.S. market, and strengthen the country’s energy security.
But keeping the tanker ban intact immediately narrows the project’s options.
It doesn’t directly kill the pipeline, but it does remove one of the most politically and geographically attractive export corridors.
The political signals coming out of British Columbia, meanwhile, were surprisingly mixed. Eby reiterated his opposition to lifting the tanker ban but also acknowledged that pipelines fall under federal jurisdiction and said his government would not go to court to stop a federally approved project. Instead, B.C. secured a commitment that it would be compensated for the environmental risks should a pipeline ultimately move forward.
The result: Alberta gets consideration for its proposed pipeline, British Columbia keeps its tanker moratorium, and both sides claim victory.
Investors may see it differently.
The project still lacks a private developer, must clear federal review, navigate indigenous consultation, and now faces additional logistical questions about where its oil would actually be loaded onto tankers.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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