Canada has formally put the proposed Pacific Link oil pipeline into its new fast-track regulatory system, converting months of political commitment into a legal national-interest designation while leaving the project’s final price, financing, route, and investment structure to be settled.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Thursday that the one-million-barrel-per-day pipeline, previously known as the West Coast Oil Pipeline, has been added to Schedule 1 of the Building Canada Act. Canadian Press reported that Pacific Link is the first project to receive a national-interest designation under the legislation.
The designation moves Pacific Link into a consolidated federal review led by the Major Projects Office and supported by the Canada Energy Regulator.
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Ottawa is targeting September 1, 2027 to finalize the project’s conditions. The government says the resulting conditions document would incorporate approvals that would otherwise be issued separately, including the Canada Energy Regulator certificate and certain Fisheries Act and Species at Risk Act authorizations.
The coming year will still include route mapping, ecological work, Indigenous consultation, cost estimates, procurement planning, and development of the final project concept.
Governments remain the dominant owners
Pacific Link’s ownership structure places the federal and Alberta governments at the centre of the development while keeping private-sector exposure comparatively limited at this stage.
The project company is being advanced by federally owned Trans Mountain Corporation, Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission, and Pembina Pipeline Corporation.
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Pembina’s economic interest is 10% through construction, with an option to acquire up to another 10% once the pipeline enters commercial operation. Trans Mountain and Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission are currently set to share the remaining interest equally.
Pembina said Thursday that it retains full discretion over its final investment decision and will have no at-risk development capital before that decision. The company said any investment must satisfy its existing capital-allocation requirements.
Indigenous communities will separately be offered a minimum 10% ownership interest, supported by federal and Alberta Indigenous loan-guarantee programs. Ottawa says the terms of that offer will be settled before construction begins.
Cost still an estimate
Alberta currently estimates Pacific Link could cost between $35.2 billion and $43.7 billion, according to Reuters.
The proposed pipeline would stretch as much as 1,250 kilometres from Bruderheim, Alberta, to a deepwater marine terminal near Delta, British Columbia. The preliminary concept includes approximately 11 pump stations, storage terminals at both ends, and offshore infrastructure capable of loading Very Large Crude Carriers.
The corridor is expected largely to follow existing disturbed land and Trans Mountain infrastructure, although Ottawa says the precise route remains undetermined.
The federal government estimates the pipeline and associated upstream development could support peak employment of roughly 140,000 jobs. Ottawa also projects more than $20 billion in annual GDP and $100 billion in government revenue by 2060.
Pacific Link would add capacity to export another one million barrels per day toward Asia-Pacific markets. Reuters reported that more than 90% of Canadian crude exports have historically moved to the US, while the existing 890,000-barrel-per-day Trans Mountain system is operating at capacity.
Thursday’s legal designation is new, but Ottawa had already signalled the outcome. Canada referred Alberta’s proposal to the Major Projects Office on July 2, with the government explicitly beginning the process of considering a national-interest listing.
