TC Energy Corp. has announced a pipeline expansion that would mean Western Canadian production would gain a route to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals on the Gulf Coast
The project (named Alberta Xpress) would add $300 million in facilities to TC subsidiary ANR Pipeline’s 10,600-mile, bi-directional delivery network, (which runs from the Great Lakes region to Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma).
Alberta Xpress would see supply from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin reach ANR via three other connected TC conduits: Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) in Alberta and British Columbia (BC), the TransCanada Mainline, and Great Lakes Gas Transmission.
TC said in a statement the new export path would be “seamless” for shippers that have signed delivery contracts, averaging 19 years long, for 160 MMcf/d.
The company said it plans to file its application for the project at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2020 and start construction before the end of 2021 and bring the expansion online in 2022.
At the same time it also announced a C$900 million ($675 million) addition, called the NGTL Intra-Basin System Expansion, to a series of multibillion-dollar capacity increases that are already underway on its supply collection grid in Alberta and BC.
An application to the Canada Energy Regulator in 2020, construction in 2021, and a 2023 in-service date for shippers that have signed 15-year delivery contracts for 309 MMcf/d is necessitated by the schedule for the new NGTL package.
TC said the capacity increase “responds to growing demand from Canada’s top natural gas user, Alberta thermal oilsands production, as well as for power plant fuel, petrochemical projects and utility supplies”.
TC CEO Russ Girling said the ANR and NGTL projects “demonstrate the long-term need across North America and in global energy markets for clean-burning natural gas, as well as the value of our existing infrastructure as a platform for organic growth.”
For more information visit www.tcenergy.com
