Canada is accelerating its push to diversify energy exports toward Asia as trade tensions with the US simmer. Shipping data cited in the FT shows Canada’s oil sales to China more than quadrupled to 88.7 million barrels last year, a surge that followed the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) coming online in May 2024, enabling more crude to reach Canada’s west coast for export.
The near-term story is crude, not just headlines. TMX is the physical “export lane” that connects Alberta supply to coastal terminals near Vancouver. At the same time, Can Canada is expanding LNG export capacity along the BC coast, with multiple projects in development, while policy, emissions rules, and carbon-management expectations add uncertainty to timelines and final buildout.
The map below visualizes that westward pivot in one view, where TMX and crude export touchpoints sit alongside LNG sites and the major transmission gas grid that feeds coastal industrial demand.
Why it matters
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TMX creates export optionality, Alberta barrels can reach Pacific markets at scale.
- Asia diversification is constrained by coast-bound capacity and export endpoints.
- Crude and LNG rely on different infrastructure chains, terminals and oil pipelines vs gas supply, liquefaction, and port buildout.
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Policy and decarbonization add friction, growth ambitions increasingly come with carbon-management expectations.
What the map shows
A Canada West Coast export corridor view, focused on the routes and endpoints that make “Asia diversification” real.
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TMX route from Alberta to the Vancouver-area export hub
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Coastal crude terminals that enable seaborne exports
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LNG export terminals/projects along the BC coast, operational and under development
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Major transmission natural gas pipelines for supply-to-coast context
A deeper dive with DataLink
Using Rextag Energy DataLink, users can:
- Trace TMX connectivity from supply regions to coastal export points
- Overlay crude terminals and export infrastructure to see where volumes can physically exit
- Add LNG sites and gas transmission to separate the crude export lane from the LNG lane
- Build internal-ready map views for export optionality, infrastructure constraints, and scenario discussions
Want to see how Rextag’s Energy DataLink works for your team? Click Free Trial to get started, and one of our specialists will walk you through key datasets and workflows.
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