Page 10 - NorthAmOil Week 30 2021

NorthAmOil PERFORMANCE NorthAmOil

TC Energy profits from demand recovery

NORTH AMERICA CANADA’S TC Energy posted a net profit of country’s gas operations offline. Additionally,
CAD982mn ($790mn), or CAD1.00 ($0.80) the company saw increased gas flows in Canada.
per common share, for the second quarter of The company noted that it had sanctioned
2020. The result marked a fall from net income the VR project on its Columbia gas system in the
of CAD1.3bn ($1.0bn), or CAD1.36 ($1.09) second quarter, which represents a capital invest-
per share for the second quarter of 2020. How- ment of roughly $700mn aimed at improving the
ever, it was also a sequential improvement on a system’s reliability and lowering greenhouse gas
TC Energy expects net loss of CAD1.1bn ($885mn), or CAD1.11 (GHG) emissions. The project is anticipated to
termination activities ($0.89) per share, in the first quarter of this year enter service in 2025.
related to Keystone XL – though that loss was in large part the result of Meanwhile, Phase I of Grand Chenier XPress,
to continue until 2022. an impairment charge on the cancelled Keystone an expansion project on the ANR pipeline sys-
XL pipeline. tem, went into service in April 2021. Phase II is
The sequential improvement was largely expected to be brought into service in early 2022,
attributable to the company transporting more TC Energy said.
crude as oil demand recovered from pandemic On the liquids side, TC Energy said its earn-
lows. Natural gas demand also improved, and TC ings had decreased owing to lower volumes flow-
Energy’s president and CEO, Francois Poirier, ing in the Keystone pipeline system. It added,
noted that the company’s US pipeline network however, that this had been partially offset by
moved an average of 26bn cubic feet (736mn increased contributions from liquids marketing
cubic metres) per day. This was a 5% year-on- activities, reflecting overall higher margins and
year increase, he said on the company’s earnings volumes.
call. The company said that as of June 30, its net
TC Energy’s US gas pipeline segment earn- financial impact as a result of the termination
ings also improved sequentially after taking a hit of Keystone XL during the second quarter was
thanks to the winter storm in the first quarter of CAD1.1bn. It noted that termination activities
this year that briefly took a large chunk of the and related costs would continue until 2022.™

POLICY

US legislators urge Biden to examine

Mexican energy policy

US-MEXICO TWENTY US legislators, including members
of the Senate and the House of Representa-
tives from both the Democratic and Republi-
can parties, have urged President Joe Biden to
take a closer look at the Mexican government’s
approach to competition in the energy sector in
light of the challenges faced by US oil, gas and
power companies working in Mexico.
In the letter, which was dated July 20, the
legislators voiced serious concerns about the
measures that the administration of Mexican
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has
taken to insulate state-run organisations from the matter during a recent visit to Mexico.
competition. They said they had expressed “We were pleased to see Ambassador Kather-
similar worries in a letter to former President ine Tai raise this with her counterpart last month
Donald Trump last year and thanked US Trade and believe this recent escalation requires your
Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai, a Biden immediate and sustained attention and a timely
administration official, for drawing attention to solution,” they wrote.

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 29•July•2021