Enbridge CEO Al Monaco says the company will soon be able to transport more oil on its pipeline system out of Alberta. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press) Export pipelines out of Western Canada are running at full capacity, but operators are now finding ways to squeeze even more oil through those pipes. The additional pipeline space is desperately needed by oil companies as export constraints have contributed to lower prices and are the main reason the Alberta government continues to restrict how much oil can be produced in the province. As new pipeline projects such TC Energy’s Keystone XL, Enbridge’s Line 3, and the federal government’s Trans Mountain Expansion face delays, the expanded capacity could provide significant relief for the industry. Hundreds of pipes are stacked at a storage yard for the Trans Mountain expansion project, near Hope, B.C. The project is already several years behind schedule, although construction is slowly ramping up as tree clearing and other preparatory work is underway. (Kyle Bakx/CBC) The incremental expansion of pipeline capacity is known in the industry as "debottlenecking." One way to debottleneck a pipeline is to add more pumping stations to add more force to the pipeline. Companies can also find certain […]
