Carney Says New Oil Pipeline Proposal ‘Highly Likely’ in Canada

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Mark Carney said a new oil pipeline to Canada’s West Coast is “highly likely” to be proposed as a nation-building project, which could mean it becomes part of Ottawa’s push to fast-track major developments under new legislation.

Carney, who was attending the annual Calgary Stampede in Alberta’s capital, told the local newspaper that it’s up to the private sector to make the proposal as opposed to a “top-down” approach from government.

“I would think, given the scale of the economic opportunity, the resources we have, the expertise we have, that it is highly, highly likely that we will have an oil pipeline that is a proposal for one of these projects of national interest,” he told the Calgary Herald. 

The comments come weeks after Parliament passed Bill C-5, which streamlines approval for developments of national importance and aims to break down barriers to internal trade. 

Carney said he also supports a proposed C$16.5 billion ($12 billion) carbon capture system for Alberta’s oil sands as a potential nation-building project. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has suggested that both an oil pipeline and the carbon capture project could proceed as a so-called grand bargain for the energy sector.

“I am confident that my government will do everything we can so that those projects can be built,” Carney told the newspaper. “We’ve got legislation, but we’ve also got the people in place at the federal level who can get things done.”

Smith and some industry groups have called for a new pipeline capable of transporting up to 1 million barrels per day to a northern British Columbia port to meet rising global demand for Canadian heavy crude. 

Existing pipelines, including the recently expanded Trans Mountain system which is shipping oil to Asia and the US, are expected to reach full capacity before the end of the decade, according to the newspaper. 

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