Canada Clears New Pacific Pipeline With 1 Million Barrel Capacity
Ottawa and Alberta's joint approval of a Trans Mountain-led Pacific pipeline adds potential new export capacity for Canadian oil sands to Asian crude markets.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Thursday (2026-07-03) a new oil pipeline to Canada's Pacific coast, to be built by Trans Mountain Corp. and capable of carrying 1 million barrels per day.2
Canadian oil production is forecast to reach 5.3 million barrels daily in 2026, according to the announcement. The existing Trans Mountain expansion already runs from Edmonton to Burnaby at 890,000 barrels per day, and Trans Mountain Corp. plans to lift that to 1.2 million barrels daily by 2029.2 Alberta holds 177 billion barrels of proven reserves, nearly nine times the size of Texas' oil reserves according to the provincial government, and the new conduit would give a portion of that resource base direct Pacific access that the current pipeline cannot fully accommodate.3
Ownership structure was designed to limit political exposure. The federal government and Alberta will hold majority stakes jointly, Reuters reported, with Pembina Pipeline taking a 10% equity position as construction partner alongside Trans Mountain Corp.2 That arrangement mirrors Trans Mountain's federal buyout in 2018, which broke the deadlock between pipeline supporters in Alberta and opponents in British Columbia. The same joint government ownership is now being applied to a second, larger project on a similar route.
Alberta applied on Wednesday (2026-07-02) to have the West Coast Oil Pipeline designated as a project of national interest, a status that grants federal coordination powers and can shorten approval timelines.3 The application was filed independently of the government announcement, indicating the province moved in parallel rather than waiting for Ottawa's direction — a departure from the previous decade of intergovernmental friction over pipeline approvals.
The project extends a shift in Canadian crude access for Pacific-facing buyers. Alberta's heavy oil blend, Western Canadian Select, historically traded at a steep discount to ICE Brent crude front-month partly because pipeline constraints forced producers to rely on US Midwest buyers. ICE Brent crude front-month last traded at $72.12 per barrel as of Friday's (2026-07-04) close, with WTI at $68.78.2 Pacific tidewater access allows Canadian crude to be offered to buyers across Asia, broadening the market beyond what a landlocked pipeline system could reach.
The announcement follows a separate Trans Mountain open season disclosed in late May 2026, when Bloomberg reported the company was seeking takers for an additional 72,000 barrels per day on its existing pipeline.1 That process was distinct from the new project and predated the government announcement, suggesting that demand from buyers for westbound capacity had already materialised before the political framework was confirmed.
No construction timeline was provided in the sources. A greenfield pipeline requiring right-of-way through British Columbia is unlikely to reach first oil before the early 2030s under even an optimistic regulatory scenario. Trans Mountain's own expansion ran significantly past its original schedule, and the new project is larger in scope.2,3
The immediate market read on crude is bounded by that timeline. One million barrels per day of announced capacity is not 1 million barrels per day available, and buyers will not price in new Canadian Pacific supply until construction milestones are confirmed. Still, the joint federal-provincial ownership structure provides a more durable political foundation than previous attempts to expand westbound export routes from Alberta.2
British Columbia's response to the national interest designation will be the first substantive test of that foundation. Without provincial cooperation on right-of-way, federal coordination powers do not by themselves resolve approval disputes, and the pattern from earlier Canadian pipeline fights — years of delay, litigation, and political reversals — would likely repeat. If the province backs the designation, the regulatory path shortens.3,1