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Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG

From McTeague’s perspective, neither shipping additional gas by boat nor delivering it via the already overstretched rail system were good options to boost local supply, and it was unlikely a new local refinery would be feasible.

Meanwhile, Alberta has the refineries, the capacity and the will to send a lot more refined gas to Vancouver, and a twinned pipeline could drop local gas prices dramatically, he said. The longer the project is delayed the longer the high prices will stick around, in his estimate.

A range of crude oils and refined products are transported in batches through Kinder Morgan’s pipeline and over the past several years about 15 per cent of the throughput was refined products, according to the company.

“We anticipate that refined products will continue with the expansion similar to historic levels but that could increase depending on market demand. This also applies for crude supply to local B.C. and Washington State refineries,” the company said in a written statement. It added that the majority of the expansion capacity would be for export off the dock.

In McTeague’s estimate, there is no place in North America that has as dire a supply problem as does the Vancouver region, and it also happens to have the highest gas prices as well.

Those prices are set to increase by another five cents per litre starting next month due to a bump in the carbon tax and the annual shift to summer-blend gasoline, McTeague said. Unless something changes, that could push Vancouver prices well past the 155.7 cents per litre record high set in June 2014 and into $1.60 territory, he said.