The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion has made Canadians collectively richer. The Globe's Rita Trichur writes that after experiencing years of delays and massive cost increases, the $34-billion project, which involved twinning an existing pipeline between Edmonton and Burnaby, B.C., finally became operational in May. The pipeline expansion, which nearly tripled capacity to 890,000 barrels a day, has enabled foreign buyers to purchase more Alberta crude oil. Statistics Canada reported this week that the country's surprise trade surplus in June was partly fuelled by a 13.3-per-cent increase in exports of crude oil, mostly to Asian countries, thanks to the Trans Mountain pipeline's expanded capacity. Additionally, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Aug. 1 that American refineries are increasingly reliant on Canadian crude oil, with 60 per cent of crude oil imports coming from Canada in 2023, even before the completion of the Trans Mountain twinning. The EIA stated in its report, "The expansion project aims to increase Canada's crude oil producers' access to global markets, alleviating bottlenecks and driving higher oil production in Canada."