Twenty years ago, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the goal of building a pipeline from Alberta’s oilsands to British Columbia’s northern coast.

Known as the Gateway Pipeline, the project was touted by Calgary-based Enbridge and state-owned PetroChina as a way to bring Alberta’s burgeoning oilsands production across the Pacific Ocean to meet surging Chinese demand.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding in 2005 , agreeing in principle to a plan that would see up to 400,000 barrels per day of crude oil transported 1,160 kilometres from northern Alberta through rugged mountain terrain to a deep-sea terminal on B.C.’s northern coast, either in Kitimat or Prince Rupert. The companies planned to figure out the exact details later.

At the time, speed was of th

See Full Page