Trans Mountain to Finish Final Segment of Oil Pipeline Expansion in April

The Canadian government-owned C$34-billion ($25.07 billion) pipeline expansion will nearly triple the flow of crude from Alberta to Canada’s Pacific Coast to 890,000 barrels per day, but has been plagued by years of delays, construction problems and cost overruns.

Spread 5-B is the last segment to complete and Trans Mountain’s schedule filed to the Canada Energy Regulator shows construction and testing wrapping up this month.29dk2902l

Trans Mountain said last month it has started filling its expanded pipeline in a staged process, but still faced technical challenges.

The pipeline, scheduled to be in service in the second quarter, is expected to raise Canadian crude prices just as producers boost production.

(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Editing by Franklin Paul)