Coastal GasLink achieves 90% completion; reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future
Coastal GasLink achieves 90% completion; reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future
As we kick off our final summer construction season, Coastal GasLink has achieved 90% overall completion.
“It is exciting to see the tremendous progress that has been made this year. When building this extremely complex and critical infrastructure, each percentage represents a hard-fought achievement,” says Bevin Wirzba, Coastal GasLink President. “In fact, despite the challenging high-risk work this year, we have had the safest start in Coastal GasLink history. As we reach the mid-way mark of this year, Section 6 now has 100% of pipe installed with key sections soon to follow as we work to complete the remaining 10%.”
Section 6, which stretches 63 kms from south of Burns Lake to south of Houston, achieved 100% pipe installation in June, marking the third of eight sections to complete pipe installation, following Sections 1 and 4 which achieved this milestone last year. Mainline welding was recently completed in Section 7, marking the final component of mainline welding across the project, and Section 5 has now completed all pipe installation with the exception of one remaining water crossing. To date, 625 kms of pipe has now been installed and nearly 97.5% of all pipe has been welded.
Coastal GasLink continues to make important strides towards achieving project completion in December 2023, and with the final six-months of construction in sight, we are reflecting on the many incredible achievements that have gotten us to where we are today.
The support of Indigenous and local communities along the pipeline route has been transformative in helping us progress this project. In March 2022, TC Energy signed option agreements to sell a 10 per cent equity interest in Coastal GasLink to the First Nations Limited Partnership (CGL FNLP) and the FN CGL Pipeline Limited Partnership. The opportunity was made available to all 20 Indigenous communities holding existing agreements with Coastal GasLink and is an important step on the path to advancing economic reconciliation through equity ownership in the Project.
Our commitment to safety is foundational to everything we do on Coastal GasLink. We have integrated innovative methods to safely tackle some of B.C.’s most challenging terrain and steep slopes, including the epic cable crane, which safely transports people and materials along a 660m elevation gain in Section 8 West.
Recently, we introduced gas at the Wilde Lake Compressor Station in Section 1 as part of the commissioning process which ensures each weld, valve, pipe and wire has been installed properly and is safe to transition into its operational phase. This critical milestone marked a significant moment of progress for the project, and was an example of how we plan to safely transition our best-in-class infrastructure into operations.
Each of these pivotal moments would not have happened without the support from our workforce and the Indigenous and local communities across the project route. As we inch closer to the finish line, we are quickly closing in on the day when construction is finished and the benefits of our extraordinary legacy are being felt by Indigenous and local communities, and around the world for decades to come.