A drone view of three berths able to load vessels with oil after their construction at Westridge Marine Terminal, the terminus of the Canadian government-owned Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project in Burnaby, B.C. on April 26.Chris Helgren/Reuters
The Canadian government will likely stall the sale of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline until after the next federal election in 2025, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing officials familiar with internal discussions.
The pipeline was purchased by the Canadian government in 2018 to ensure the completion of the construction.
The government has since been criticized for the cost of the expansion ballooning to nearly five times its 2017 budget estimate.
The expansion project, which has so far cost C$34 billion ($24.72 billion), nearly triples its capacity to ship oil from Alberta to Canada’s Pacific coast to 890,000 barrels per day.
The pipeline began commercial operations on May 1, after years of regulatory and cost-related delays.
The Prime Minister’s office, the finance ministry and Trans Mountain did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.