Kinder Morgan is close to pulling the plug on a planned expansion of its Trans Mountain crude oil export pipeline, designed to provide the land-locked province of Alberta with opportunities to send 590,000 b/d of heavy and light barrels to refineries in Asia and the US West Coast, in the face of relentless opposition from stakeholders that is now threatening to erode its shareholder value, the company said Sunday. Already some C$1.1 billion ($860 million) has been spent on the project since its initial filing with the federal regulator the National Energy Board in 2013, it said, noting going forward no additional shareholder resources will be committed. The expansion was estimated to cost C$7.6 billion and is aimed at putting 600 miles of new pipe to the ground, installing 12 new pump stations and three export berths at Vancouver, Kinder Morgan said in mid-February. At the time it said […]