Despite construction and market disruptions caused by COVID-19 as well as continuing opposition, the Canadian government-owned Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project began work this month on the $9.5-billion project's key British Columbia link.
船员们开始在卑诗省坎卢普斯市（Kamloops）周围进行7公里的首次延伸，该城市将在太平洋海岸的Burnaby港建造的185公里的平行管道将继续进行，继续在其艾伯塔省地区的扩张。
Surerus墨菲Joint Venture is overseeing work on this section of the pipeline project.
The entire Trans Mountain expansion, intended to boost capacity of the original pipeline built in 1953, is tentatively set for completion in December 2022. An initial crew of 30-50 workers will swell to 600 when construction peaks in the late summer and early fall, Trans Mountain said in a press release, noting it has been working with local hotels on COVID-19 cleaning and safety measures.
Ian Anderson, president and CEO of Trans Mountain Corp., called the Kamloops section of the project “a key milestone” in the pipeline’s 600-mile route from oil fields near Edmonton, Alberta to Burnaby, B.C.
The firm is owned by the Canadian government, which bought the pipeline from Houston-based Kinder Morgan for $3.4 billion in 2018 to complete construction that had faced numerous delays.
该项目在今年早些时候以70％的价格上涨而受到打击，他也面临着一些原住民团体的财务和法律挑战和激烈的反对。
Canada’s Federal Court of Appeals earlier this year rejected environmental challenges from First Nations groups who live in the territory through which the pipeline is routed.
法院裁决被认为是该项目的最后一个主要法律/监管障碍，该项目于2016年首次获得联邦政府的批准。预计该管道的扩建能力为每天890,000桶，高于目前的300,000桶。
A recent first-quarter earnings report indicated that the pipeline shipped an average of 297,000 barrels per day in the first three months of this year, below capacity, and also noted a steep drop in the price of western crude oil due to the pandemic and oil production competition between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
一位跨山发言人告诉加拿大广播公司，尽管减少了运输请求，但根据轻质和重原油的运输，该管道将保持全部容量。这是唯一可以运送两者的北美Pipellne。
Meanwhile, an effort to expand the 1,172-mile Dakota Access pipeline, which extends from North Dakota to southern Illinois, gained some ground June 4 when Illinois regulators rejected a request from opponents to delay a decision on state permits for the proposed project because of the pandemic.
环保组织也认为COVID-19impact on global oil use should negate the expansion. But Dakota Access developers said the situation is temporary, with demand to increase as world economies revive.
A final decision still is to come from州商务委员会。
扩张将从每天的570,000桶石油增加到110万桶，并已获得北达科他州，南达科他州和爱荷华州的批准。
达科他州的访问仍然面临法律问题，华盛顿特区的一名美国地方法院法官旨在裁定是否仍然可以运作，而美国陆军工程兵团完成了一项更详细的环境研究，基于单独的法院裁决，新利luck管道的浇水许可证。
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, along with environmental groups and 36 House and Senate Democrats, have argued that the permit should be vacated, while 14 states have filed briefs claiming the move would cause severe project delays and economic harm.
