The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project will not be profitable, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who has just tabled an update on this project, whose bill has now reached $21.4 billion.
In a report posted online Wednesday morning, it is pointed out that “the government’s decision in 2018 to acquire, expand, operate and then dispose of the assets of the Trans Mountain pipeline system will result in a net loss for the federal government “.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer also indicates that the immediate abandonment of the project “would lead to considerable financial losses for the government”, which he estimates at “more than 14 billion dollars”.
After being valued at $7.4 billion, the bill for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project has hit $21.4 billion, according to an “update” released by Trans Mountain Corporation last February.
In a press release, Trans Mountain Corporation then indicated that this increase stems in particular from “improvements” and “modifications” to the project, but also from “delays”, the impacts of COVID-19 and the repercussions of the November 2021 floods. in British Columbia.
Despite this 290% jump in the bill since 2018, “the project’s business case remains solid,” read the Trans Mountain Corporation press release. “Canada will benefit from the economic and fiscal contributions made by the project after it comes into operation. »
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland also came to the defense of the project, stressing that the takeover of the project, in 2018, was “important and necessary”. Ms. Freeland had also pointed out that the injection of public funds into the project will not go beyond the $12.6 billion projected in a previous cost update, in 2020. This means that Trans Mountain Corporation will have to seek $8.8 billion in financing on the public debt market or from financial institutions.
The pipeline duo, to be built by “the end of 2023”, will transport 325 million barrels of oil from Alberta’s tar sands to a port near Vancouver each year. The project will therefore triple the flow of oil and increase the number of tankers loaded in the Vancouver area sevenfold, from 5 to 34 ships per month.
Further details will follow.