RoydadNaft –  Line fill on the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion will start in the first quarter of 2024 and take about six to seven weeks to complete, the Canadian government-owned corporation building the project said on Friday.

Filling the pipeline with oil, a final step before crude deliveries start, will require about 4.5 million barrels, Trans Mountain Corp said.

“We expect commercial operations to commence near the end of Q1 2024,” a Trans Mountain spokesperson said in a statement.

Trans Mountain has previously forecast a first quarter in-service date for pipeline operations. However, there had been speculation within the Canadian energy industry that the expansion project could face further delays after a dispute with an Indigenous group in British Columbia over a route change request, which Trans Mountain won last week.

The expansion will nearly triple the capacity of the pipeline running from Alberta to Canada’s Pacific Coast to 890,000 barrels per day, but the C$30.9 billion ($22.6 billion) project has struggled with years of regulatory delay and massive cost overruns.

It was bought by the Canadian government in 2018 to ensure the expansion got built.

Once operational, TMX will open up new markets for Canadian crude on the U.S. West Coast and Asia.

The exact date of line fill is being carefully watched by oil market traders as it will boost demand and should raise prices for Canadian crude. Earlier this year shippers MEG Energy and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd both said they expected line fill to take place before the end of 2023.

($1 = 1.3676 Canadian dollars)