Canada Oil Industry Takes Fresh Hit With Key Pipeline Delay
- Enbridge Line 3 project to start service a year late in 2020
- Expansion is crucial for pipeline-starved Canadian oil sector
Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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Canada’s already beaten-down oil industry is facing a fresh setback as regulatory issues bog down another key pipeline project.
The roughly one-year delay to Enbridge Inc.’s expansion of its Line 3 conduit, announced late Friday, threatens to prolong a shortage of pipeline space that has made it difficult for Canada’s drillers to ship their crude to refineries. That pinch caused a crisis in the industry last year, sending local oil prices to record lows and prompting the government of Alberta to embark on an unprecedented intervention in the market.