Update on Trans Mountain via Bloomberg - All but open
Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion all but open: After years of delays and billions of dollars of cost overruns, the expanded Trans Mountain oil pipeline is expected to start filling with Canadian crude for the first time today – the final step before the official commercial launch next month. The pipeline, which will allow almost a million barrels per day to reach export terminals in B.C., is a major development for Canada’s oil industry, one that’s expected to reduce the price gap faced by Canadian oil by opening up new markets for it. Although the obvious buyers are oil-thirsty markets in Asia, in the short term, an intriguing new option has started to emerge, as the sudden glut of oil on Canada’s West Coast has found an eager market in refineries in California. While the official opening of the pipeline isn’t scheduled until May 1, Tuesday’s so-called “wet commissioning” of the line is expected to take a big bite out of stockpiles, which have risen to near a record, Bloomberg reports this morning.