OTTAWA, June 1 (Reuters) - The Canadian government is backing up to C$3 billion ($2.24 billion) in loans for Trans Mountain Corp (TMC), the crown corporation building an over-budget and long-delayed oil pipeline expansion to Canada's Pacific Coast.
Last year Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government, which bought the Trans Mountain pipeline in 2018 to ensure the expansion project got built, provided a C$10 billion loan guarantee to TMC.
The Trans Mountain Expansion will nearly triple the flow of crude from Alberta's oil sands to Burnaby, British Columbia, to 890,000 barrels per day and is intended to boost access to Asian refining markets.
Finance Ministry spokeswoman Marie-France Faucher said the loan guarantee was "common practice" and did not reflect any new public spending.
TMC is paying a fee to the government for the loan guarantee, she said.
Persons:
Justin Trudeau's, Chrystia Freeland, Marie, France Faucher, Faucher, Stephen Ellis, Keith Stewart, Ismail Shakil, Nia Williams, Daniel Wallis, Richard Chang
Organizations:
OTTAWA, Canadian, Trans Mountain Corp, Export Development, Liberal, TMC, Finance, Morningstar, Greenpeace Canada, Thomson
Locations:
Coast, Burnaby , British Columbia, France