Enbridge Inc. filed a request on May 6 with Canada's national energy regulator for an extension of its Northern Gateway project permit to continue talks with communities in northwest British Columbia.

Canada's largest pipeline company requested the National Energy Board for a three-year extension to allow the Northern Gateway project the time needed for legal and regulatory certainty, the company said in a statement.

Canadian energy regulators approved the Northern Gateway Pipeline with more than 200 conditions in 2013.

However, the project, which would take oil sands crude from near Edmonton, Alberta, to a deepwater port at Kitimat on British Columbia's northern coast, has faced opposition from communities along the route.