Canadian regulators looking at the social and environmental impacts of a proposed natural gas pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley are again delaying hearings. That setback came earlier this week. It¹s on top of word from Imperial Oil Ltd., Calgary, the project's lead proponent, that the cost estimates have jumped to $14 billion from $6.5 billion. New estimates include $3 billion for the gas gathering system, $6.7 billion for the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline and $4.2 billion to develop the anchor fields.
Imperial also postponed the project's finish date by three years to 2014. The changes were released in a filing with National Energy Board and Joint Review Panel in mid-March.