Oil pipeline giant Kinder Morgan admitted Friday it broke rules protecting marine life from dangerous noise during construction in Burnaby B.C. this spring.

"Trans Mountain recognized and reported exceedances of the thresholds and followed a mitigation plan which included providing the occurrence details, mitigative actions taken and results in the reports and responses to Information Requests from DFO," the company told CTV News in a statement.

As part of the Trans Mountain pipeline project, work is underway to expand the Westridge Marine Terminal to facilitate increased tanker traffic.

Maximum noise levels designed by the federal government to protect marine mammals and fish were exceeded while the company was conducting pile driving work back in April.

The Westridge terminal is the end of the line for the Trans Mountain pipeline. The company is expanding it because tanker traffic is expected to increase from 60 to 400 ships a year if and when the project is finished.

"Trans Mountain is committed to compliance with its environmental and regulatory obligations and we are aggressively implementing measures to avoid future non-compliance," Kinder Morgan said.

DFO says it's unlikely any marine life was harmed during the work that violated the permit, but the federal government has told the company it expects it to follow the rules moving forward.

"The underwater noise levels produced during impact pile driving activities were not high enough to cause injury to marine mammals or fish," the department said in a statement, adding that it "will continue to conduct compliance monitoring of authorized works, undertakings or activities at the Westridge Marine Terminal."

Ottawa unveiled its $4.5-billion plan late last month to buy the controversial infrastructure project to ensure that the expansion moves forward.

The project has been a point of political tension over the past several months between the Trudeau government and Alberta, which both support the pipeline and B.C., which is challenging the expansion based on uncertainty over the environmental threat it might pose.

News of the federal government's takeover sparked renewed protests across the country.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Ben Miljure