Canadian regulators have given a preliminary nod to a crude oil export project that could sharply increase the number of aframax loadings in the Pacific Northwest. But the project remains far from a done deal.

The National Energy Board recommended Thursday approving the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline project, sponsored by energy logistics firm Kinder Morgan. The expansion would treble the volume of crude oil carried from Canada’s oil-rich Alberta province to an export dock at Burnaby, British Columbia.

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