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“There’s a sense of excitement,” said Leo Golden, vice-president of major projects at Enbridge, of placing Line 3 into service.

Line 3, like other oil export projects, has faced delays and entrenched opposition. Golden noted that it has been multiple years since Enbridge, the largest pipeline company in North America, or its competitors were able to mark the opening of a new pipeline out of the country.

“Line 3 is one part of what we’re doing,” Golden said, adding that by the end of the year the pipeline company expected to make a total of 100,000 bpd of new pipeline export capacity available to Canadian oil producers through optimizations and by using drag reducing agents to push more crude through its existing pipes.

Similarly, competitor TC Energy Corp. — the pipeline company previously known as TransCanada — has informed oil producers that through optimization and drag reductions it will add 50,000 bpd of capacity out of Canada by the end of the year.

The 150,000 bpd of new pipeline capacity is welcome news for Canadian oil producers that have been starved for additional pipeline capacity in recent years as total oil output has outstripped pipeline space and led to large discounts for Canadian oil.

“Anything that’s going to improve market access is extremely positive,” Explorers and Producers Association of Canada president Tristan Goodman said, adding that the capacity additions “will make a dramatic difference.”