Sometimes, one has to kiss a lot of frogs.The on-again, off-again Trans Mountain pipeline to the West Coast is off again after the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) on Thursday slapped the company with a stop work order to protect amphibian habitat — frogs and toads — near Abbotsford.It comes after an inspection by CER field officers and indigenous monitors last week uncovered “non-compliances” and safety issues in a wetland near Abbotsford, specifically “insufficient fencing to protect amphibians and unapproved vegetation clearing,” the CER said in a notice posted to its website.Under the order, the company will be forced to stop all work in an 800-metre section of the right-of-way until all deficiencies are corrected. That includes conducting a safety inspection and an investigation to identify “the root cause of the environmental non-compliances, the reason for the delay in correcting deficiencies already raised” and file a report back to the CER.It’s not clear how much of a delay, if any, will result from the latest glitch. In 2021 Trans Mountain was forced to stop work for four months under the Migratory Birds Act to protect hummingbird nests along a 900-metre section near Burnaby..The exact species of amphibian wasn’t disclosed, but the BC government’s website notes fast flowing mountain streams are home to rare tailed frogs and threatened Coastal Giant salamanders that can grow to be almost a metre long.It comes after the CER on September 25 approved the rerouting of a 1.5 kilometre section of the line through sacred native ground near Kamloops. As of Thursday, work on that section was still proceeding.Canadian oil producers are eagerly awaiting startup of the line, which will add almost 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of export capacity to overseas markets in Asia and begin to narrow the price differential, or discounts, enjoyed by American refiners in the Midwest and Texas Gulf Coast.On a conference call to discuss third quarter results, Canadian Natural Resources president Tim McKay said he expects to be called on to start ‘line fill’ — or actually filling the pipe with oil ahead of official startup — sometime within the next several weeks.The company had actually increased oil production by some 44,000 bpd in anticipation of the expansion being completed this year and now finds itself backed up behind pipe until it happens.Consequently, prices for Canada’s Western Canadian Select are down more than USD$10 since October 25, when the incident occurred."Right now, we don't know if that will happen here in the fourth quarter, or early next year," he said. "If it happens earlier, between now and the end of the year, that's actually very positive in the sense that should start to tighten the WCS differential."
Sometimes, one has to kiss a lot of frogs.The on-again, off-again Trans Mountain pipeline to the West Coast is off again after the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) on Thursday slapped the company with a stop work order to protect amphibian habitat — frogs and toads — near Abbotsford.It comes after an inspection by CER field officers and indigenous monitors last week uncovered “non-compliances” and safety issues in a wetland near Abbotsford, specifically “insufficient fencing to protect amphibians and unapproved vegetation clearing,” the CER said in a notice posted to its website.Under the order, the company will be forced to stop all work in an 800-metre section of the right-of-way until all deficiencies are corrected. That includes conducting a safety inspection and an investigation to identify “the root cause of the environmental non-compliances, the reason for the delay in correcting deficiencies already raised” and file a report back to the CER.It’s not clear how much of a delay, if any, will result from the latest glitch. In 2021 Trans Mountain was forced to stop work for four months under the Migratory Birds Act to protect hummingbird nests along a 900-metre section near Burnaby..The exact species of amphibian wasn’t disclosed, but the BC government’s website notes fast flowing mountain streams are home to rare tailed frogs and threatened Coastal Giant salamanders that can grow to be almost a metre long.It comes after the CER on September 25 approved the rerouting of a 1.5 kilometre section of the line through sacred native ground near Kamloops. As of Thursday, work on that section was still proceeding.Canadian oil producers are eagerly awaiting startup of the line, which will add almost 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of export capacity to overseas markets in Asia and begin to narrow the price differential, or discounts, enjoyed by American refiners in the Midwest and Texas Gulf Coast.On a conference call to discuss third quarter results, Canadian Natural Resources president Tim McKay said he expects to be called on to start ‘line fill’ — or actually filling the pipe with oil ahead of official startup — sometime within the next several weeks.The company had actually increased oil production by some 44,000 bpd in anticipation of the expansion being completed this year and now finds itself backed up behind pipe until it happens.Consequently, prices for Canada’s Western Canadian Select are down more than USD$10 since October 25, when the incident occurred."Right now, we don't know if that will happen here in the fourth quarter, or early next year," he said. "If it happens earlier, between now and the end of the year, that's actually very positive in the sense that should start to tighten the WCS differential."
