The cost of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion (TMX) project in Canada has increased by 70% from CAD12.6bn (US$9.9bn) to CAD21.4bn (US$16.8bn) due to the costs of all known project enhancements, changes, delays and financing, including impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the substantial impacts of the November 2021 British Colombia floods in the Hope, Coquihalla and Fraser Valley areas. Consequently, no additional money from the Canadian government will be invested in the project. The TMX project is expected to be commissioned in the third quarter 2023.
The TMX project would twin the existing Trans Mountain line, which transports approximately 300,000 bbl/d of crude oil and refined petroleum products from the oil sands deposits in Alberta to Vancouver (British Columbia) and to the Washington State (United States). The expansion would boost its transport capacity to 890,000 bbl/d and would increase crude tanker traffic off the Canadian west coast. The Canadian government acquired the project in 2018 and invested in it to help it get completed. The cost of the project was initially estimated at CAD7.4bn (US$5.8bn) in 2017 but regulatory and court delays and rising costs of steel, land, work and security increased the cost by 70% to CAD12.6bn (US$9.9bn) in February 2020. The cost has thus nearly tripled since 2017.