The construction of a controversial 670 km long gas pipeline in western Canada is completely finished after five years of work, its promoter TC Energy announced on Monday.
“100% of Coastal GasLink’s pipelines have been installed along the route, connecting northeastern British Columbia to LNG Canada’s facilities on the west coast,” the energy company said in a statement.
This “important step” should now allow TC Energy to introduce natural gas into the pipeline to transport it from east to west, before the official commissioning of the gas pipeline.
TC Energy, based in Calgary, Alberta, said it was “well positioned to achieve the objectives set for the end of the year”.
In 2020, then in full construction, the Coastal GasLink project was the origin of a vast conflict in Canada, where demonstrations emerged in several regions of the country.
Some indigenous officials in British Columbia had blocked the construction of the project, on the grounds that it crosses their ancestral lands. They were also concerned about the environmental impacts of the project.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The weeks-long protest movement led to closures of railways, roads and ports, leading to shortages.
The Coastal GasLink pipeline is intended to transport natural gas to LNG Canada’s coastal terminal for export, particularly to Asia.
LNG Canada is a huge liquefied natural gas project presented in 2018 at its launch as “the largest private investment project in Canadian history”.
It is a joint venture project developed by the British hydrocarbon giant Shell with the Malaysian group Petronas, the Chinese PetroChina, the Japanese Mitsubishi and the South Korean Korea Gas Corp.