Interest gauged in Trans Mountain expansion

Kinder Morgan Canada is seeking shipper interest in second-phase expansion of its 225,000 b/d Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMX-2) in Alberta and British Columbia.

May 8, 2006

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 8 -- Kinder Morgan Canada is seeking shipper interest in second-phase expansion of its 225,000 b/d Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMX-2) in Alberta and British Columbia. The company has initiated a binding open season that will run through June 15.

This second-phase expansion will add 100,000 b/d of incremental capacity to the Trans Mountain oil pipeline system, current expansions of which will bring capacity to 300,000 b/d (OGJ, Mar. 20, 2006, p. 32). The TMX-2 capacity would be available by 2009, pending shipper commitments and regulatory approvals.

The TMX-2 project consists of two pipeline loops: 252 km of 36-in. pipeline in Alberta between Edmonton and Edson and 243 km of 30 and 36-in. pipeline in British Columbia between Rearguard and Darfield, north of Kamloops.

Kinder Morgan has received commercial support from customers to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline system in two earlier projects: (1) the Trans Mountain pump station expansion, which is currently in progress and will increase the system's capacity to 260,000 b/d in 2007, and (2) the Anchor Loop expansion, which will bring the total system's capacity to 300,000 b/d by 2008, pending regulatory approval.