Canada Energy Regulator (CER) ruled that Canada's Pembina Pipeline Corp unjustly discriminated against Chinese oil major CNOOC Ltd by denying the company access to storage facilities Edmonton, Alberta, Reuters reported.

In the ruling, CER commission ordered the Calgary-based Pembina to provide consent for receiving, delivering and transporting oil from the Chinese CNOOC Marketing Canada through the facilities connecting the Woodland feeder pipeline to CNOOC tanks subleased from Pembina.

The commission also directed the two companies in a strife to negotiate in good faith and agree on commercial terms for the pipeline connectivity, failure to which either of the companies may apply to the commission to determine a reasonable commercial term for the connectivity.

CNOOC, which has shale assets and oil sands in Canada sought redress from CER in April 2021, following Pembina’s refusal to provide connectivity between the Woodlands pipeline and one of the three of its leased tanks.

The Edmonton terminal is part of the TransMountain pipeline network supplied by 20 feeder pipelines from different parts of Alberta, and 35 storage tanks with a capacity of about 8 million barrels. The two companies are yet to provide official comments and statements concerning the ruling.