(Calgary) A new regulatory filing shows the company behind the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion now estimates project costs will be 10 per cent higher than the May 2023 estimate of $30.9 billion.
The Trans Mountain company provided this new estimate in a filing Monday with the Canada Energy Regulator. It specifies that this estimate is subject to receipt of final costs and expenses once the pipeline project is completed.
The company said it would take approximately three months, following construction completion, before it could provide a final cost estimate.
Trans Mountain says in the regulatory filing that it continues to work toward an in-service date for the pipeline expansion in the second quarter of this year. The start of firm service contracts is scheduled for 1er may.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Greg Pardy said in a note to clients that the new date represents a one-month delay from the most recent forecast.
Trans Mountain has faced a number of challenges related to the pipeline expansion, which will increase its export capacity to the West Coast to 890,000 barrels per day from the current 300,000.