Enbridge Inc. (ENB) will spend up to USD 494.2 million more on safety features for its proposed Northern Gateway oil pipeline to Canada’s western coast. The company’s plan to build an oil pipeline from Alberta to a port in Kitimat, British Columbia for export overseas faces opposition in Canada’s westernmost province, including from native groups and environmental organizations. Enbridge said it will spend an extra CAD 400 million to CAD 500 million to improve Northern Gateway, which had been estimated to cost CAD 5.5 billion to build.”With these enhanced measures, we will make what is already a very safe project even safer in order to provide further comfort to people who are concerned about the safety of sensitive habitats in remote areas,” said Janet Holder, executive vice-president of Enbridge’s Western Access division.Projects like Northern Gateway have support from Canada’s ruling Conservative government, which has said opening new pipeline routes to the western coast in order to ship oil to Asia is a strategic priority for Canada. Northern Gateway would ship up to 525,000 barrels a day and is scheduled for a 2017 startup.Enbridge told regulators the extra safety features would include thicker walls for the entire 730mi pipeline, and extra thickness in areas where it crosses waterways. It would also increase the number of valves to cut off the flow of oil by 50%, increase the frequency of inspections by at least 50%, install dual leak-detection systems, and staff remote pump station locations continuously to improve safety and accident response times.
