Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline reached full capacity for the first time since its expansion was completed in May 2024. For June, the 890,000-barrel-per-day system sits at apportionment — meaning more shippers want to move product than the line can accommodate — the first time that has happened since the expanded pipeline opened.
Jason Balasch, Trans Mountain’s vice president of business development, said the Hormuz disruption and broader global energy uncertainty drove the milestone. Asian buyers unable to rely on Gulf supply have turned to Canadian heavy oil as a stable alternative, pushing nomination volumes past available capacity.
The pipeline connects Alberta’s oilsands to BC’s Pacific coast terminals. As recently as last summer, it ran at roughly 84% utilisation; in June 2025, roughly 78%.
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The turnaround makes the case that Canada built for Pacific market access. The pipeline, which cost Canadians $34 billion to expand and is owned by the federal government, spent much of its first two years under capacity and below its own utilisation forecasts. Critics questioned whether demand would materialise. The Hormuz disruption answered that question. With Gulf supply no longer reliable, Asian refiners moved decisively toward Canadian barrels.
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With Canadian crude output on track to surpass last year’s record of 5.3 million barrels per day, Trans Mountain will have more product to move as capacity expands. The company plans to add another 300,000 bpd through optimisation projects — drag-reducing agents and additional pumping stations — by the end of 2028.
Balasch cautioned that the same uncertainty driving current demand also makes future utilisation rates hard to forecast. But Wednesday’s Hormuz closure — the third since the US-Iran war began in February — suggests the structural case for Canadian Pacific export capacity is unlikely to weaken soon.
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