The Northern Pipeline Agency (French: Administration du pipe-line du Nord) is a Government of Canada agency currently under the purview of Natural Resources Canada, and under the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade until 2004.
In keeping with the Act, many regulatory powers of other Government of Canada departments and agencies related to the pipeline project are delegated to the NPA.
The Agency oversaw the construction of the Prebuild from Caroline, Alberta to San Francisco and Chicago in the West and East respectively in the early 1980s but unfavourable economic conditions led to the suspension of Stage II (construction from the Alaska border near Beaver Creek, YT to the Alberta border near Boundary Lake, B.C.)
The Agency currently has a relatively small office, including the head Commissioner, the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Canada Serge P. Dupont, who reports to Parliament through the Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Christian Paradis.
The Act also provides for the appointment of an Administrator and Designated Officer within the National Energy Board (NEB), whose responsibilities are those relegated from the Commissioner.