Kinder Morgan is taking more time to determine if the company's customers are interested in using an expanded version of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which runs oil from Alberta to Burnaby.
The company is holding an "open season," where customers submit binding 15 and 20-year transportation agreements. The open season was set to end on Jan. 19, but Kinder Morgan extended it till Feb. 16 following customers' requests for more time. If Kinder Morgan receives enough support to justify an expansion, the company may propose twinning the 1,150-kilometre line, which now ships a maximum of 300,000 barrels of oil per day. The most it could handle, if fully expanded, is 700,000 barrels per day.
"On closing of the open season, our next steps will be to confirm that there is confirmed commitment to ship additional volumes on the Trans Mountain pipeline and determine whether the volumes bid make an expansion project feasible," said Lexa Hobenshield, spokesperson for Kinder Morgan. "A project could be less than 600,000 barrels per day (the capacity that the open season is based on), or possibly more than 600,000 bpd. Any announcement confirming expansion or not, would not likely be made until late in first quarter of 2012."
The project would likely include expanding the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, where tankers fill up with oil.
The Trans Mountain pipeline is the only pipeline that transports crude and refined oil from the oil producing areas in B.C. and Alberta to the west coast of North America, said Hobenshield. When asked how Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Pipelines (which would run oil from Alberta to Kitimat) would impact Kinder Morgan's decision, Hobenshield said the Trans Mountain expansion plans are not new.
"We've been discussing these plans for several years now. Our plans for expansion are based on indications we're seeing that the market is ready for expansion," she said.
"We are well positioned for growth with an existing footprint, existing relationships in the port and along the pipeline, existing operating expertise and emergency response capability."
