HOUSTON — It’s harder to build a pipeline in Canada than it is to amend the constitution, says the chief executive of the company that proposed a cancelled pipeline to the west coast.
Speaking on the sidelines of the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference in Houston, Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel compared the task of planning and developing oil export lines to the ill-fated Meech Lake Accord to bring Quebec into the constitution.
Calgary-based Enbridge was the backer of both the Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat. The $8 billion project was cancelled in 2016 by the Trudeau government which refused to lift the tanker ban on the West Coast.
In an interview, Ebel said crossing provincial borders is often more difficult than crossing international ones, like the 49th parallel.
“As I've often said, the East-West pipe is a bit like the Meech Lake Accord, and that's hard to get everybody on the same page for the amount of time it actually takes to get regulatory and legislative approval.”
Northern Gateway is one of two shelved projects advocates say could be revived to circumvent US president Donald Trump’s 10% tariffs on Canadian energy.
It comprised two twin pipelines from Bruderheim, Alberta, to Kitimat BC that would have shipped about half a million barrels per day for export to Asia.
The other is the TC Energy Energy East, which consisted of converting an existing natural gas pipeline that’s already in the ground to oil and extending it from Montreal to the Maritimes.
The $12 billion project would have shipped 1.1 million bpd for export to Europe and India. But that too was cancelled in October 2017 over vehement protests from Quebec over beluga whale habitat.
Those objections continue to this day. Quebec Premier François Legault has dismissed the idea of interprovincial oil or gas pipelines across Quebec, while Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet has said pipelines from Alberta offer no “economic benefit” for his province.
Ebel agreed the objections are ironic — and slightly hypocritical — given that Enbridge has shipped oil into Montreal for decades.
And given the size and scale it’s still a better value proposition to ship oil to Texas. Enbridge itself isn’t particularly exposed to tariffs because it merely provides the service of shipping the oil and doesn’t have to sell it.
“They (domestic pipelines) cross a border. It's called the province, okay? And as I've said before, I think the opportunity is there, but it's going to take legislative change at the federal and provincial levels. Legislative change — not just words that actually make such projects in the national interest and therefore must be built.”
‘In the national interest’ is a specific legal term that typically refers to projects that are deemed crucial for the country's economic, social, and security well-being in critical infrastructure sectors like transportation, energy, and communications.
Projects deemed "in the national interest" are characterized by their ability to support economic growth and competitiveness, enhance national security, and Improve the quality of life for Canadians.
It would seem both Northern Gateway and Energy East satisfy all three. But it would take an Act of Parliament, which is unlikely given the present political environment.
“I don't think there's any doubt there's national unity. The issue is, do we actually have the bones to take advantage of that idea to create a framework that actually supports our ability to do something about it?”