Clearing around an Enbridge buried natural gas pipeline in Hope, B.C. The company's T-South system runs from Chetwynd in northeast B.C. to the Huntingdon-Sumas meter station at the Canada-U.S. border.COLE BURSTON/AFP/Getty Images
Enbridge Inc. ENB-T is embarking on a $4-billion expansion of its pipeline system for transporting natural gas in British Columbia after receiving approval from the federal government.
The Sunrise expansion project will increase capacity by 17 per cent at Enbridge’s T-South system, focusing on southern B.C. but also bolstering the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
“The multibillion-dollar Sunrise expansion program is a shovel-ready, critical natural gas infrastructure project that supports the advancement of Canada’s energy superpower ambitions,” Enbridge chief executive officer Greg Ebel said in a statement on Friday.
Westcoast Energy Limited Partnership, an affiliate of Calgary-based Enbridge, operates the B.C. transmission network.
The improvements to pipeline and related infrastructure are meant to help an array of customers, notably replacing natural gas in the market that will be directed to Woodfibre LNG. Woodfibre is a project under construction near Squamish, B.C., that hopes to start exporting liquefied natural gas to Asia by late 2027.
Enbridge acquired a 30-per-cent stake in Woodfibre in 2022, while the remaining 70 per cent is held by Pacific Energy Corp. Ltd. The latter is part of privately owned Singapore-based RGE Pte. Ltd., which is controlled by Indonesian businessman Sukanto Tanoto.
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Last month, federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson said Woodfibre is keen to eventually ramp up its planned output. “I know Woodfibre has ambitions to double and triple the size of their production,” he said during an appearance on a podcast.
Matthew Akman, Enbridge’s president of gas transmission and midstream, said the current spotlight is on the pipeline logistics instead of Woodfibre’s eventual capacity. “There could be potential expansion, but we’re not focused on that right now,” he said during a conference call on Friday.
Woodfibre plans to export 2.1 million tonnes a year of LNG to Asia, or roughly one-seventh the size of the capacity for LNG Canada’s first phase in Kitimat in northwest B.C.
LNG Canada became this country’s first export terminal for the fuel last June, when it began shipping to Asia from Kitimat.
Stonlasec8 Indigenous Alliance Limited Partnership acquired a 12.5-per-cent interest last year in Enbridge’s Westcoast pipeline system consisting of T-South and T-North.
Mr. Akman said First Nations have the right but not the obligation to participate in a pro-rated ownership structure for the expansion program. “There’s good alignment and we look forward to continuing to have those Nations as our partners,” he said.
The T-South network runs from Chetwynd in northeast B.C. to the Huntingdon-Sumas meter station at the Canada-U.S. border.
Mr. Akman said Enbridge did not submit the Sunrise plans to the federal government’s Major Projects Office for fast-tracking because the expansion program was already at an advanced stage. “We’ve been at this for almost four years, and so we were on an earlier track,” he said.
In January, a commission panel of the Canada Energy Regulator recommended approval of the Sunrise project.
“This project will enable us to heat more homes, businesses, hospitals and schools, while bolstering British Columbian industry, including for LNG, and creating thousands of jobs,” Mr. Hodgson said in a news release on Friday.
Critics say climate and health impacts are being ignored, and they are urging the federal government to put the brakes on LNG development on the West Coast and fracking for natural gas in northeast B.C.
Those opposed include Environmental Defence, My Sea to Sky, Dogwood, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.
“The federal government’s approval of the Enbridge Sunrise pipeline expansion is a disastrous climate decision that prioritizes fossil fuel industry growth over Canada’s climate commitments,” Alex Walker, Environmental Defence’s energy analytics program manager, said in a statement.
LNG Canada is mulling its Phase 2 expansion that would double capacity at the export site on the Haisla Nation’s traditional territory in Kitimat.
The Haisla-led Cedar LNG project began construction last year in Kitimat and is aiming to start shipping LNG to Asian markets by late 2028.
The conflict in the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz turmoil have upended the global LNG market. Qatar, the second-largest LNG exporter after the United States last year, suspended its production in early March after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.
Construction is slated to begin in July on the Sunrise project and it could be in service by late 2028. Enbridge expects to hire about 2,500 workers during construction, with economic spinoffs for local communities and Indigenous groups.
“At a time of uncertainty and global instability, this is how we create the prosperity needed to pay for the public services that make us all better off,” B.C. Premier David Eby said in a statement.