Canada Shows ‘Purpose’ in Enbridge Gas Pipeline Approval

(Bloomberg) -- The Canadian government approved Enbridge Inc.’s C$4 billion ($2.9 billion) Sunrise natural gas expansion project in British Columbia on Friday, marking the first major pipeline project allowed by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s year-old government.

Carney has made energy security and independence a cornerstone of his economic agenda. Ottawa has been trying to accelerate approvals of major energy projects that reduce reliance on exporting to the US, including signaling support for a new million barrel a day oil pipeline from Alberta to the BC coast.

“We’re starting to see improvement and we thank the federal government for acting expeditiously on this,” Matthew Akman, Enbridge’s president of gas transmission and midstream, said at a press conference. “There’s more of a sense of purpose and an an intent and a prioritization, which is what we need to see in Canada.”

The Sunrise pipeline expansion will increase natural gas transport capacity by as much as 300 million cubic feet a day on Enbridge’s main gas transport system, the company said. That extends from the Montney shale formation in the northeast down into the US Pacific northwest. It will also add about 139 kilometers of new pipeline and 11 pipeline looping segments. 

Construction is scheduled to start this summer and be in service by late 2028. 

Still, Akman said there is room for improvement. He said the company finds that the regulatory process moves faster in the US, which is driving investment by the midstream company south of the border. 

Last week, Enbridge was granted nine permits by President Donald Trump to operate existing pipelines that cross into the country from Canada and expand throughput on a system in North Dakota.

The 36 First Nations that recently acquired a 12.5% stake in the West Coast gas system will have the option to participate in ownership of the expansion, he said.

(Adds US permits in second to final paragraph)

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