Mark Maki, Trans Mountain Corporation’s chief financial and chief strategy officer, expressed annoyance with a letter sent to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) by oil shippers that raised concerns about the risk of delaying the move to full pipeline services.

Alberta oil and oilsands operators have increased production in anticipation of the 590,000 bbls/d in increased export capacity from the TMX coming into service on May 1, but are still sorting out where supply will come from to fill the line and what markets the increased production will reach.

To support the needed technological advancements to jump the hurdles to economically produce carbon fibre from bitumen-derived feedstocks, Alberta Innovates launched its $26-million, three-phase Carbon Fibre Grand Challenge (CFGC) in January 2020 through its BBC initiative.