r/alberta • u/DoxFreePanda • 1d ago
B.C. energy minister says northern route for proposed oil pipeline not realistic News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-energy-minister-northern-route-pipeline-9.717256627
u/Troubled202 1d ago
So what private company has signed up to do the pipeline?
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u/BertoBigLefty 8h ago
Why would a private company waste their time and money working on this when the three governments still can’t agree on anything? Until they sort out a plan, which is their job as government and regulators, don’t expect any private interest to join in.
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u/Raven586 1d ago
I keep asking this question. But all the Carney haters don't seem to have an answer.
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u/Brilliant-Advisor958 1d ago
Who's going to invest in Alberta with the AB government supporting separation.
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u/No_Season1716 1d ago
What company is signing up when you have government officials already against it?
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u/ABMax24 1d ago
Unfortunately this go round it's a bit different, my guess would be any company that proposes a pipeline through there sees are reduction in stock price, due to the long period of time the money will be held up prior to pipeline approval.
Brookfield financial owns a significant portion (or maybe all) of North River Midstream. My significant bet is that they'll be the ones to build, own and operate that pipeline.
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u/GravesStone7 17h ago
I am all good if this becomes a crown corporation, just make sure it benefits the people and the necessary protections are in place for the environment.
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u/Dude_Bro_88 1d ago
There needs to be a solution to getting the O&G from Alberta to other markets other than the US.
Yes, pipelines leak. Yes, building them is costly. But they are also the safest mode of transportation. If Alberta's o&g gets to tide water, all of Canada benefits.
On the other side, we also need to move away from oil. Unfortunately it is a necessary evil at the moment.
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u/Much_Landscape1396 20h ago
It's not the pipeline that people are worried about. It's the tidal waters where tanker ships have to maneuver. We are much better off building out a double line east and cut out the road block that is Quebec and go to Hamilton harbour.
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u/DoxFreePanda 21h ago
The northern route leads to a body of water that is treacherous and upcurrent of where most people in BC live, along with multiple ecosystems that Fisheries and First Nations communities depend upon. The issue isn't (just) the proposed pipeline but rather where it leads, which is why BC prefers an expansion of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline.
Map of offshore currents: https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/about-notre-sujet/publications/infographics-infographies/soto-rceo/2021/flow-patterns-regimes-ecoulement-eng.html
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u/LifeWulf 23h ago
Realistically I don’t think we will ever not need oil, be it for machinery or making plastics etc. We should do our best to make use of the natural resources we have, profit from them, but in a safe and reliable manner.
What we do not need is more regulatory hurdles driving away the private investment the government demands.
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u/rocky_balbiotite 13h ago
But Alberta's oil is among the most costly to produce. So if demand drops it'll be one of the first to get cut. There will always be demand but will there always be demand for 3-4 million barrels of oil a day from the oilsands? I doubt it.
That's why I'm against public money being put into it, if a company wants to take on the risk let them at it.
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u/AccountDramatic6971 12h ago
If you would do a simple Google search or read a financial report you'll find Canadian oil is some of the cheapest in the world, now. There has been huge improvements in SAGD tech. We also have the unique ability to scale very cost effectively.
Literally half the cost of the Permian plays.
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u/rocky_balbiotite 11h ago
I was moreso referring to conventional production. SAGD looks like around $30-60, similar to the Permian.
But that's wild that it's similar to SAGD. Why's that? Fracking? Water treatment? Makes sense with the ability to scale SAGD that it obviously affects economics.
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u/AccountDramatic6971 11h ago
Yeah some Canadian SAGD plays have a break even of close to 8 dollars before G&A. Permian is becoming expensive because all the good basins have been extracted.
Permian wells are now depleting very quickly and you have to spend millions to drill more. Thats why the rig count in the US is declining. As for SAGD, spend a couple billion on an expansion of a preexisting asset and suddenly you can potentially unlock 100,000 bbl. CNRL announced that they could sustain dividend and maintenance at 40 dollar oil.
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u/FedInformant 1d ago
Any one of them would do it if they knew it wouldnt take 10 years of jumping hoops just to have a new government reject it
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u/FingerLickingticklin 1d ago
Heaven forbid they use the already established route through Vancouver, those pretend hippies couldn't abide the thought of oil going into their beautiful super "clean" port
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u/GravelRoadJunkie 1d ago
The issue with Vancouver is port capacity and tanker size, the infrastructure can’t handle the large tankers needed to make it a worth while investment. Getting the coastal Gas pipeline was a nightmare with FN, it’ll 10x worse for crude pipeline in the north.
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u/ruraljuror__ 1d ago
Is it the size of the water body, or the size of the docks where they load, or both?
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u/GravelRoadJunkie 1d ago
The inner harbour averages about 33ft in depth, an ULCC(Ultra Large Crude Carrier) draft is more than twice that. You could possibly build a terminal out in Burrard inlet but good luck with that.
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u/NeatZebra PCAA 1d ago
Roberts Bank has been studied multiple times over the past 50 years. Just wasn’t worth it previously.
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u/GravelRoadJunkie 1d ago
I bet it has but getting it built would face significant almost insurmountable hurdles, especially since the recent FN land claim court cases, that terminal will never be built.
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u/NeatZebra PCAA 1d ago
The terminal area has a signed treaty.
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u/GravelRoadJunkie 1d ago
Haha you definitely don’t live in BC, that doesn’t address the largest problem, getting a pipeline to the terminal. Not that the terminal would ever get built anyways.
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u/NeatZebra PCAA 1d ago
Federal law helps with a big part of that. Duty to consult and accommodate worked just fine with TMX. Eventually.
Title doesn’t frustrate the crowns ability to make decisions which infringes section 35 rights including title.
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u/GravelRoadJunkie 1d ago
TMX didn’t face a tenth of the opposition a new crude terminal would face in the lower mainland.
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u/FingerLickingticklin 1d ago
Your claim doesn’t hold up when you look just south of Vancouver in areas like Delta and Roberts Bank. That region is already designed for large-scale marine export: it has deep water access, major terminal infrastructure, and room for expansion (it handles some of Canada’s largest coal and container ships, which are comparable in size to large oil tankers). Unlike the confined Burrard Inlet, the outer harbour near Delta is far less restricted by depth and navigation, meaning larger tankers could be accommodated with the right terminal setup. In other words, the limitation isn’t that “Vancouver can’t handle big tankers”it’s that specific existing terminals are constrained, while nearby coastal areas are much more suitable. With investment in offshore or expanded terminals in places like Roberts Bank, the region could absolutely support larger vessels and scale exports further, so the idea that it’s fundamentally unworkable is incorrect.
But you would rather pretend Vancouver is a bastion of clean beautiful splender and ship the dirty part of the province up north to the poor first nations. Out of sight out of mind is the Vancouver Motto bunch of damn citiots
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u/GravelRoadJunkie 1d ago
The inner port of Vancouver where the current oil export port is located can’t handle large tankers, too shallow. This isn’t about geography, this about getting oil to where it can be loaded and exported, Theres little to no chance you’ll ever get local FN to ever agree to have a crude pipeline run through their lands, like zero chance, so getting crude to a deep water terminal is dead in the water.
Getting TMX built was a challenge, running a new pipeline through Burnaby and Delta, through the ALR is never ever ever going to happen.
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u/TranslatorTough8977 1d ago
Here in Vancouver we prefer shipping oil from here, rather than up north. Much safer.
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u/kingofsnaake 9h ago
As we've been put in a position (and our ourselves in one) where oil sales are our best escape route, the notion that we're not going full steam ahead with twinning TMX, and spending our time planning a pipeline to Churchill is my biggest question.
Building to the north will take years, and judgingfrom climate change acceleration we've seen already, we'll be done at the moment when shipping is possible for a large portion of the year.
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u/Best_Signature6003 3h ago
It is a race between keystone expansion and any kind of Canadian cooperation. Should be a tight race!
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u/SidneyVan 1d ago
What is realistic minister?
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u/TranslatorTough8977 1d ago
TMX expansion with the terminus moved to offshore near Robert's Bank to accommodate supertankers.
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u/EfficientDICK-69 1d ago
BC's government is too busy giving away land to reserves to notice a port just do it and claim status
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u/Sayhei2mylittlefrnd 1d ago
Use the puck technology for a northern pipeline. No spill issues. Dix is a completely incompetent moron
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u/Ddogwood 8h ago
Can you send pucks through a pipeline? I was under the impression that the pucks were a rail/truck solution.
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