Trans Mountain mulling how to remove 'obstruction' causing newest construction delay

The company building the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is still working to find a solution for its latest unexpected construction challenge in B.C.

Crown corporation Trans Mountain Corp. is currently removing the section of pipe it had been attempting to pull into the hole drilled for it in the Fraser Valley between Hope and Chilliwack.

The company had been using an engineering technique called horizontal directional drilling for that section, but announced on Monday it had encountered what it called "technical issues."

On Wednesday, a company spokesperson said the problems were related to an obstruction discovered while attempting to pull the pipe into the hole, and that it is now assessing options to remove it.

The Trans Mountain pipeline is Canada's only oil pipeline to the West Coast and its expansion will increase the pipeline's capacity to 890,000 barrels per day from 300,000 bpd currently.

But the company has been racing against the clock as it deals with a variety of difficulties related to hard rock and challenging terrain. The latest challenges are expected to push the pipeline's expected in-service date back from the first quarter to the second quarter of this year.