dailynewsnblog
There appears to be renewed interest in the creation of another oil pipeline running through B.C.
The war in Iran is driving down the world supply of oil and countries are scrambling to find alternative sources, so the Trans Mountain Pipeline between Edmonton and Burnaby is operating at full tilt and could be at full capacity by April.
“People are looking for where can I get a little more supply, so that’s part of the reason why we see April basically at capacity,” TMX CEO Mark Maki told Global News over the phone on Thursday.
The surge in demand is further fuelling plans to speed up the expansion of Trans Mountain’s capacity and sparking new calls to build a new pipeline to move oil from Alberta to the B.C. coast.
“When we look at the data, we need to have more capacity and infrastructure to transport Canadian exploration,” Gabriel Giguere, a senior policy analyst with the MEI Institute, said.
However, B.C.’s NDP government has long argued that with no private investor, another oil pipeline is a non-starter.
Get daily National news
Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.
“They haven’t got a proponent, it’s a very expensive proposal and there are dramatically cheaper alternatives,” B.C.’s Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions Adrian Dix said.
However, Greg Ebel, CEO of Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge, said on Bloomberg Television that the investment climate is not there yet, but it is starting to clear up.
When asked if the Alberta pipeline would be a “hard no,” Ebel said he wouldn’t draw that line.
“What I would say is that the conditions don’t yet exist for that pipeline to be built,” he said. “If my customers get the green light to produce, Enbridge is the largest mover of oil in North America and is going to be there.”
B.C.’s Coastal First Nations said late last year that they will use “every tool in their toolbox” to keep oil tankers out of the northern coastal waters.
Marilyn Slett, president of the Coastal First Nations – Great Bear Initiative and elected Chief of the Heiltsuk Nation, said in a statement at the time that this pipeline is “nothing more than a pipe dream.”
In November, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith signed a memorandum of understanding that commits them to working toward building an oil pipeline to the West Coast.
B.C. Premier David Eby said the B.C. government needs to make sure this pipeline project doesn’t become an “energy vampire.”
Smith said she plans to submit a proposal to the federal government in June for a new pipeline to B.C.’s coast.
–with files from Ben O’Hara Byrne
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
