

The estimated cost of the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline project has increased to $6.6 billion, TC Energy Corp. announced November 1.

The $400 million increase is due to additional meter stations and greater costs for rock work and water crossings once the company was able to gain access to the entire route, Tracy Robinson, executive vice-president and president of Canadian Gas Pipelines, said during a conference call to discuss third quarter 2019 results.

“As we have been into that terrain now, the first pass has suggested that there are more rock issues than we had suggested in our estimates and so this adjustment reflects that as well as a greater number of water crossings across the full pipe path,” she said. “This is an estimate at that point in time and we are going to be working very hard to mitigate that.”

TC Energy said it expects the incremental cost will be incorporated into the final tolls for the pipeline that will transport natural gas from northeast British Columbia to the LNG Canada project at Kitimat. The initial capacity is 2.1 billion cubic feet per day with a potential expansion to 5 bcf/d.

Construction is continuing to proceed as planned under the permits granted by the BC Oil and Gas Commission following a decision earlier this year in which the National Energy Board reaffirmed provincial jurisdiction for the project.