Canada's quest to move oil sands crude to Asia got a big boost yesterday from a U.S. pipeline company.

Kinder Morgan said yesterday it plans to more than double the capacity of its existing Trans Mountain pipeline, which currently is the only pipeline carrying Albertan oil to Canada's West Coast.

The $5 billion expansion will be much larger than originally envisioned, with the Houston-based company now saying it plans to increase the pipeline's capacity to 850,000 barrels of oil day, up from 300,000 barrels.

That would put the pipeline's capacity in line with that proposed by TransCanada's Keystone XL, a conduit that also would move oil sands crude if ever fully constructed. "We have been planning for this day for many years," said Ian Anderson, president of Kinder Morgan Canada.

The announcement comes on the heels of numerous speeches from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other Canadian officials that President Obama's denial of a cross-border permit for Keystone XL earlier this year forced the country to try and diversify its oil sands market to Asia.

In Washington, D.C., earlier this month, Harper said Canada would proceed with its Asia plans regardless of an ultimate decision on a new permit for Keystone XL.

The announcement also puts Kinder Morgan in a race with Enbridge -- whose Northern Gateway project currently is undergoing hearings -- to construct the first Canadian oil sands pipeline capable of moving large amounts of fuel to Asia via tanker.

Because Kinder Morgan and Enbridge's proposals would run exclusively in Canada, they would not need approval from the Obama administration.

First Nation groups will protest

Environmental groups have long said that neither project is viable, partially because of strong opposition from First Nation groups in Canada's western provinces to the idea of a Alberta-Vancouver link.

Many of the groups have banded together via documents such as the "Save the Fraser" declaration, which declares opposition to all oil sands pipelines in Canada's west because of threats to landscapes and wildlife. First Nation groups have extensive legal rights under the Canadian constitution.

The expanded Kinder Morgan line envisions adding "twin" pipelines to the existing link between Alberta and Vancouver.

In the announcement, Anderson said the company has received binding, 20-year commitments from oil shipping companies for the Trans Mountain expansion. Previously, the company's expansion plans were closer to 600,000 barrels of oil per day. The project would be operationally by 2017, he said.

The support from shipping companies "shows the market's enthusiasm for expanding market access for Canadian crude," Anderson said. "This support from the market better defines the project and enables Kinder Morgan Canada to fully engage the local communities."

The company will spend 18 to 24 months in a "thorough engagement" process with local communities along the pipeline route and marine corridor, including First Nation and aboriginal groups, Anderson said.

Using an already-established route

Kinder Morgan has an advantage over Enbridge because it is working with an established route and with existing rights of way overseen by the company, said Eric Swanson, an analyst at the Canadian-based Dogwood Initiative, a British Columbia-based group. It also is far along with the shipping agreements, he said.

Kinder Morgan also has the advantage of working under Canada's new plans to speed up oil sands hearings, he said. In a budget proposal last month, Canadian officials said joint-panel hearings to approve oil sands projects should be no longer than 24 months (ClimateWire, April 3).

"This is going to be a big surprise to a lot of people in southern British Columbia who haven't been paying close attention to this," Swanson said. "There will be a lot of opposition."

Kinder Morgan said it would expand its existing Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, British Columbia, to accommodate tankers. Currently, much of the pipeline's fuel heads to the United States.

Depending on the company's plans, the idea of larger and larger tankers in a western Canadian port is going to raise a lot of concerns, said Swanson.

"Should a spill occur, the international boundary in the Strait of Juan de Fuca won't be much of a barrier to the toxic spread from these larger vessels," activists from ForestEthics and People for Puget Sound wrote in an Seattle Times editorial last week about Kinder Morgan.