Strathcona seeks B.C. tanker ban exemption for oil exports

Calgary-based Strathcona Resources wants Ottawa to exempt it from the federal oil tanker ban on British Columbia's north coast so it can ship up to 250,000 barrels of crude a day to Asia by rail through Prince Rupert.

Strathcona chairman Adam Waterous laid out the plan for a privately financed crude-by-rail export terminal in interviews published Thursday by Bloomberg News and The Logic. He told The Logic the terminal could be in service in under two years.

"The only infrastructure that needs to be built is an oil terminal offtake in Prince Rupert," Waterous told The Logic.

Strathcona has not issued a news release on the proposal. Waterous told The Logic it is at an early stage, has not been submitted for regulatory approval, and that the company has talked with commercial partners, including CN, about costs. He told Bloomberg the company plans to take the idea to Prime Minister Mark Carney's government as soon as next week, and that the terminal could load very large crude carriers holding more than a million barrels each.

Waterous told The Logic the company will push to have the terminal named a project of national interest, and that he expects any federal approval would come with conditions, including some level of Indigenous participation. "There is much work to be done, a lot of wood to chop, a lot of community engagement to advance," he told Bloomberg.

What the law says

The Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, which received Royal Assent on June 21, 2019, bars tankers carrying more than 12,500 tonnes of crude or persistent oil from loading or unloading at ports on B.C.'s north coast, including Prince Rupert. Violations carry fines of up to $5 million.

In a briefing note prepared in February, Transport Canada said no project had been proposed under the act and that "amending or repealing the Act, like any federal legislation, would require a decision from Parliament."

A Transport Canada spokesperson told The Logic the ban remains in effect and the department's role is to enforce the existing law. The Prime Minister's Office did not respond to The Logic by its deadline.

Many coastal First Nations, environmental groups and B.C. Premier David Eby oppose oil tanker traffic on the north coast, Bloomberg reported.

Rail already moving Alberta crude

Strathcona owns the Hardisty Rail Terminal in east-central Alberta, which it bought in 2025, and the Hamlin terminal in Saskatchewan. The company said in a May 2025 news release that the Hardisty terminal can handle 262,000 barrels a day, and that the two terminals together handle about 80 per cent of crude-by-rail volumes in Western Canada. Waterous told The Logic the company currently moves 75,000 to 80,000 barrels a day by rail.

The proposal comes as Ottawa and Alberta push a separate West Coast pipeline. On Oct. 1, Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith named the Pacific Link pipeline the first nationally significant project under the Building Canada Act. The plan calls for Crown corporation Trans Mountain Corp. to carry one million barrels a day of oilsands bitumen from Bruderheim, Alta., to an export terminal in Delta, B.C., and leaves the north coast tanker ban in place. The Logic reported the pipeline is not expected in service until the early to mid-2030s.

The United States buys about 90 per cent of Canada's oil exports, Bloomberg reported.