The Province of British Columbia said it has established a regulation to ensure pipelines built to support liquefied natural gas facilities will not be permitted to transport oil or diluted bitumen.
This measure follows a commitment made by the Province earlier last year to put a mechanism in place to ensure pipelines, built to supply LNG facilities, would not transport oil or bitumen. Prior to this commitment, concerns were being expressed during environmental assessments and by First Nations about the long-term pipeline use.
The new regulation will be applied under the Oil and Gas Activities Act and prohibits the BC Oil and Gas Commission from permitting any conversion of a natural gas pipeline supplying an LNG facility.
The following six proposed pipelines are subject to the regulation and other pipelines can be added in the future:
British Columbia currently has 18 LNG proposals for export operations.
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Press Release; Image: gov.bc.ca