Irving Oil has received approval to ship Alberta oil to their refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick via the Panama Canal. The move will allow them to circumvent provincial and environmental opposition that was faced when they were hoping to secure oil through the now-scrapped West-to-East Energy East pipeline back in 2017. The oil will be shipped on foreign tankers from British Columbia. Irving filed an application to the Canadian Transportation Agency on April 16, requesting permission to use the roundabout route “on an urgent basis”, though they were already in discussions “for prompt acquisition” of Canadian oil “for immediate delivery to its refinery through the Panama Canal,” using Aframax sized crude tankers.
