Oil from Enbridge's Line 9B begins pumping into Montreal

Crude oil has started to flow from westto east on Enbridge's Line 9B, with a tanker readyat the Port of Montreal tocarrythe product toward a refinery in Lvis.

The Espada Desgagns and another, similar tankerwill make the trip between Montreal and the Valero refinery in Lvis two or three times a week, according to Radio-Canada.

Up to300,000barrels of oil a day are expected to flow from Alberta's oilsands to Montreal's refineries.

The pipeline was first built in 1976 to carry oil from Sarnia, Ont., to Montreal.

In 1998, the flow was reversed when foreign oil was cheap, and imports were transported from eastern ports to western refineries.

But when Canadian oil prices dropped below that of imports, Enbridge asked the National Energy Board to once again change the direction of the flow.

The road to approval wasn'teasy for Enbridge, Canada's largest oil distributor. The projectwas plagued with delays and there was plenty of opposition along the way.

Most of the delays were due to environmental concerns raised by municipalities on the line's path.