British Columbia bans transport of oil on pipelines built for LNG facilities

The Province of British Columbia (BC) has banned the transport of oil and diluted bitumen on pipelines constructed specifically for liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.

BC established the new regulation, which will be applied under the Oil and Gas Activities Act, to prohibit the BC Oil and Gas Commission from allowing any conversion of a natural gas pipeline delivering an LNG facility.

British Columbia Minister of Natural Gas Development Rich Coleman said: "The establishment of BC’s LNG industry is an unprecedented opportunity to create economic growth. This growth will be developed responsibly and this regulation will ensure pipelines will support our long-term potential in natural gas production and export."

British Columbia currently has 18 LNG proposals for export operations.

The province’s natural gas potential exceeds 2,900 trillion cubic feet.

The potential supply is expected to support domestic and international project operations for more than 150 years.

There are presently more than 40,000km of provincially regulated pipelines operating in British Columbia.

Pipelines will link BC’s natural gas supplies from the north-east to LNG facilities along the western coastline.

British Columbia Minister of Aboriginal Relations John Rustad said: "Many first nations want to work with the province and proponents on major natural gas pipeline developments, but some have strong and differing views about oil or diluted bitumen pipelines.

"A regulation prohibiting the automatic conversion of natural gas pipelines for these purposes goes a long way to address the concerns we have heard."