What’s happened.

Trans Mountain chief executive Mark Maki told The Logic Summit on Monday, November 2, 2026 that the pipeline expects to move another 90,000 barrels a day from the Alberta oilsands to Burnaby, B.C. before the end of this year. The only thing standing in the way is the federal regulator signing off on the use of chemical additives that make the oil flow faster through the existing pipe. Shippers want it, Maki said: “the sooner Trans Mountain can get it in place, the better.” A second project adding 210,000 barrels a day is on track for 2028. Together they take the line from 890,000 barrels a day to nearly 1.2 million, a jump of about a third.

Behind that sits a bigger date. Pacific Link, the proposed Alberta bitumen pipeline to the West Coast costing up to $43.7 billion, has been designated by Ottawa as a project of national interest, which means one streamlined review that the federal government expects to finish by September 1, 2027. Trans Mountain, a federal Crown corporation, and the provincially owned Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission will split most of the ownership. Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline takes 10 per cent through construction with the option for another 10 per cent once it runs, and Indigenous investors are to be offered a stake worth at least 10 per cent. For context on how these numbers move, Ottawa bought Trans Mountain for $4.5 billion in 2018 and the expansion cost about $34 billion by the time it opened in May 2024.

More space on the pipe matters to Alberta businesses that never touch a barrel. When export capacity is tight, Alberta heavy oil sells at a steep discount to world prices, producers keep less cash, and the first thing they trim is the maintenance and small-project spending that service, engineering and equipment firms depend on. Extra capacity works the other way, and it shows up in supplier budgets roughly a quarter after it shows up in producer cash flow.

What it means for your business.

If you sell engineering, field service, parts or fabrication to Alberta and northeast B.C. producers, these three dates belong in your 2027 planning now: regulator approval of the extra 90,000 barrels a day in the next few weeks, another 210,000 barrels a day in 2028, and a Pacific Link decision by September 1, 2027. Operators setting 2027 budgets this month will fund the work that lets their own plants, batteries and terminals keep up with higher throughput, so pitch debottlenecking, reliability and turnaround work in November and December rather than waiting for the big-build headlines. The firms that lose here are the ones who hold today's tight-egress assumptions in their bids and get undercut by someone who read the schedule.

Next step: This month, rebuild your 2027 bid assumptions around the three published dates and take the debottlenecking conversation to operators while their budgets are still open.

Explore this opportunity for your business

Sources & context.

Reported developments are separated from MKTGSpace’s suggested commercial next steps. Reconfirm current conditions before acting.

See where you fit.

Tell us what you sell. We will come prepared to discuss where your offer fits, who to reach and the marketing strategy and implementation needed to pursue the opportunity.

Talk to us about this signal