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The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is getting more expensive, but Kinder Morgan, the company planning to build it, says the economic case for the project remains strong.

Regulatory application for the pipeline extension was filed in December 2013, with a cost of CAN$5.4 billion. However, figures released last month in a conference call with investors put the new project cost at CAN$6.8 billion.

Foreign exchange swings are cited as a factor behind the increase, as are scope changes to the project and project delays.

Trans Mountain spokeswoman Ali Hounsell said the company will be able to pin down a more accurate figure once it knows precisely what conditions may be attached to a federal permit if it鈥檚 approved.

The National Energy Board has already announced 145 draft conditions, which the company has said are achievable.

鈥淚t鈥檚 absolutely still a viable project. We鈥檙e confident that our shippers are still very much interested and that this pipeline capacity that we鈥檙e proposing is in high demand,鈥� she said.

The expansion project would nearly triple the pipeline鈥檚 capacity to 890 000 bpd, enabling oilsands crude to be shipped to lucrative Asian markets.

The National Energy Board expects to make a recommendation to the federal government by May 2016.

Edited from various sources by

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