Canada is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of oil. Its vast crude oil reserves allow this economy to be energy independent and to export large quantities of oil. However, its main constraint is the difficulty in transporting crude oil from its producing areas (which do not have access to the sea) to the highest crude oil consuming areas in the world, which limits its production to a great extent. However, a major pipeline renovation would allow Canada’s oil fields to rapidly increase production. Industry expectations are such that the Alberta region has already begun skyrocketing its crude oil production to flood the market on the day the pipeline opens.
The ongoing expansion and upgrade on Canada’s Trans Mountain Pipeline is nearly complete. Analysts of the US Department of Energy assure that the work has already been completed by 95-98%. The development of this oil infrastructure will be a turning point for the Alberta region, which produces almost all of Canada’s oil, and for the country itself, which will be able to intensively increase exports of ‘black gold’. Some signs of this turning point can already be seen.
Although the pipeline is not yet complete or operating at full capacity, Alberta oil production reaches all-time high in November. Companies that exploit the region’s tar sands (from which they extract crude oil) are ramping up crude oil production in view of the imminent completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
energy regulator alberta Assured that crude oil production in the province increased by 8.8% in November New all-time high of 4.2 million barrels per day, Alberta will produce an average of 3.8 million barrels per day of oil in the first eleven months of 2023, up 1.6 per cent from 2022 and five per cent more than the same period in 2021.
Opening of the renovated Trans Mountain
“When operational, the expansion will nearly triple the pipeline’s current capacity of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) to transport crude oil from the tar sands in landlocked Alberta to Canada’s Pacific coast for export to new customers. /d) in Asia or on the West Coast of the United States,” the US Department of Energy note said.
However, the definitive opening of this pipeline may be in jeopardy. The project was initially expected to come online early this year, but the recent decision could lead to a delay of up to two years, according to the project owner.
oil pumping manifold
The existing Trans Mountain Pipeline currently offers A route for the export of marine crude oil out of Canada By carrying crude oil from Edmonton, Alberta, to Burnaby, a port near Vancouver on the coast of British Columbia. The expansion project aims to increase the pipeline’s current capacity to 590,000 b/d, bringing the total capacity of the pipeline to 890,000 b/d.
If this pipeline eventually comes into operation at its full capacity, Canada is going to irrigate the whole world with its oil, It should be remembered that the Canadian government acquired Kinder Morgan Pipelines for 4.5 billion Canadian dollars in 2018 and formed Trans Mountain Corporation (TMC) To oversee and manage pipeline and expansion projects. The pipeline expansion, which involves adding much additional capacity (several million barrels), has faced several legal challenges from activists and environmentalists. However, everything indicates that it will eventually be inaugurated in a few weeks.
The company overseeing the work recently told local press that it aims to have the pipeline fully operational by the end of the first quarter of this year. In a statement he assured that the work is almost complete, now some bureaucratic procedures are missing and the pipeline has to be filled up to the oil ‘bar’.
Canada already produces more oil than China
Canada’s crude oil production has increased continuously over the past 13 years. Average annual production of crude oil and condensate Canada increased by nearly 2 million b/d between 2009 and 2019, In 2020, the impact of Covid reduced crude oil production as prices fell, but that was just a pause. Since then, Canadian production has resumed its growth trend. Canadian production is set to surpass pre-pandemic levels in 2022, when crude and condensate production averaged 4.9 million b/d, according to data from the Canada Energy Regulator (CER).
Much of this growth in crude oil production is concentrated in the province of Alberta, which, as mentioned earlier, is landlocked. In 2022, Alberta crude oil production accounted for 82.7% of Canada’s total crude oil production, up from 76.1% in 2012. Eight Capital analyst Phil Skolnik says that with current data, Canada has overtaken China’s production levels and is just behind Iraq. The world’s fourth largest oil producer.