The Canada Energy Regulator has approved a tolls settlement for the Trans Mountain pipeline that lets the system contract up to 90 per cent of its capacity to shippers, up from 80 per cent, ending a dispute over how to share the cost of the expansion.
The regulator’s commission approved the settlement, filed as C41001, on Sept. 28, according to a CER news release. It said the commission “found that the tolls were just and reasonable.”
The decision cancels the RH-002-2023 hearing, which was set up to deal with disagreements between Trans Mountain and its shippers over expansion costs. The CER said no commenters with a commercial interest in the resulting tolls opposed the settlement.
The regulator also found the deal meets its guidelines for negotiated settlements, which are meant to produce reasonable tolls applied fairly to all shippers. It said Trans Mountain can still give other shippers meaningful access to available capacity.
The pipeline runs about 1,180 kilometres from Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C. It was first built in 1953, and the expansion completed in 2024 raised nominal capacity from about 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000 barrels per day. Shippers also use it to reach the Westridge Marine Terminal for exports.
For Alberta producers, the higher contracting limit means more of the line can be locked in under long-term commitments, which are the arrangements that underpin the pipeline’s financing. Capacity left uncontracted is what is available to other shippers on a monthly basis.
The CER release does not give the toll rates, how long the settlement lasts, when it takes effect or which shippers are involved. Those details are in the filing on the regulator’s document site, and Trans Mountain was not quoted in the release.
The ruling comes as Ottawa and Alberta push a separate proposed west coast oil pipeline, now called Pacific Link, which the federal government has listed as a project of national interest.
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