West Coast Refiners Miss Out on TMX Pipeline Boost as Crude Heads to Asia

The much-anticipated expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline (TMX) was supposed to be a game-changer for U.S. West Coast refiners. By tripling the pipeline's capacity from Alberta to Canada's Pacific Coast, TMX was expected to flood the U.S. West Coast with Canadian heavy crude, lowering input costs and boosting margins. But three months into its commercial operations, the impact has been far less than anticipated. Instead of sending the bulk of its barrels south to the U.S., TMX has diverted about two-thirds of its output to Asia. This unexpected…