An Edmonton member of the Canadian Parliament voiced support of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion after being sworn in as minister of natural resources on July 18.
“We need to make sure that we’re building this pipeline to get our resources to international, non-US market,” said Amarjeet Sohi, according to CBC Radio-Canada. “The $15 billion that we lose every year because we get a discount on our oil, we need to change that.”
Sohi, formerly minister of infrastructure, replaced Jim Carr, who became minister of international trade diversification in a cabinet shuffle seen as preparation for federal elections next year.
The Canadian government in May agreed to buy the expansion project, stymied by opposition in British Columbia, and existing Trans Mountain system from Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. in an effort to expedite construction (OGJ Online, May 29, 2018).
The system carries crude oil, oil products, processed and diluted bitumen from Edmonton to Burnaby, near Vancouver.
The 590,000-b/d expansion would increase capacity to 890,000 b/d.
