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TransCanada to Invest $1.5B in Pipelines
One of Canada’s largest pipeline operators has announced plans to spend $1.5 billion to expand its natural gas pipeline network in that country over the next four years.
TransCanada Corp. announced Wednesday (June 14) that it plans to begin the process of obtaining permissions to add to its natural gas network in western Canada, connecting producers around the Albert-British Columbia border with consumers throughout North America.
The proposed expansion, which comes with a price tag of CA$2 billion, (about $1.51 billion), will involve the company’s NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. system. That system is already undergoing a CA$5.1 billion capital improvement program.
New Pipeline, Compression Stations
The proposed expansion will include 171 miles of new pipeline, ranging from nominal pipe size 16 to NPS 48, according to TransCanada. The plan also includes five new compression stations, new meter stations and other facilities.
The company says the investement is based on 3 billion cubic feet per day of new contracted customer demand, garnered from a recent expansion in the Pacific Northwest, California and Nevada markets. The new pipeline infrastructure will connect producers in the Montney, Duvernay and Deep Basin fields with these markets.
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The new pipeline infrastructure will connect producers in the Montney, Duvernay and Deep Basin fields with some U.S. markets. (Pictured: current TransCanada pipelines in the region.) |
According to TransCanada, the company’s natural gas pipelines move more than 25 percent of the natural gas consumed throughout North America each day. The NGTL system consists of 14,920 miles of pipeline, of which TransCanada is full owner.
If the expansion is approved as planned, TransCanada expects construction to begin in 2019 and be complete by 2021.
Natural Gas Acquisition
TransCanada expanded its natural gas pipeline holdings last year with the $10.2 billion acquisition of Columbia Pipeline Group Inc. The company’s Keystone XL crude oil pipeline was approved earlier this year by the Trump administration, more than a year after the administration of former President Barack Obama rejected that project.
British Columbia and Alberta combined produce about 15 billion cubic feet per day of marketable natural gas, according to the Canadian National Energy Board. That’s about 96 percent of the country’s natural gas production.
