Page 5 - NorthAmOil Week 08 2021

NorthAmOil COMMENTARY NorthAmOil

were working on the pipeline, but the number along portions of the ANR pipeline system. The
was down to around 600 as of early February. $200mn project is anticipated to enter service in
This was subsequently ramped up to 963, and the second half of 2022.
the project now has permission to increase
the number further, to 2,787, over the coming What next?
weeks. While TC Energy will take a hit in the first quar-
However, TC Energy has warned that the ter of 2020 owing to the cancellation of the Key-
pandemic will lead to “significantly” higher stone XL permit, the company’s performance
costs and delays to the construction schedule for stands to be bolstered by the impact of freezing
the pipeline, which will serve the LNG Canada temperatures across the US last week. During its
facility. The pipeline will transport 2.1bn cubic earnings call, the company said demand for gas
feet (59.5mn cubic metres) per day of gas, with it moves through its system spiked in mid-Feb-
the possibility of expanding the capacity to up to ruary as the Southern US in particular struggled
5 bcf (141.2 mcm) per day in the future through with gas production and pipeline outages.
additional compressor and meter facilities. It “During the polar vortex that covered most
was previously scheduled to come into service of the US over the past week, we experienced
in the second half of 2022 but given TC Energy’s unprecedented sustained demand for our pipe-
latest comments, start-up is now expected to be line capacity as we set a record for coincidental
pushed back to a later date. three-day peak deliveries of over 101 bcf [2.9bn
More than 140 km of pipe have been laid in cubic metres] from February 14 to the 16th,”
British Columbia so far. Poirier said. TC Energy has
Separately, TC Energy’s Nova Gas Transmis- However, the company said it had to issue
sion Ltd (NGTL) has been given the green light a force majeure declaration relating to its warned that
by regulators to submit a new plan by June 30 for liquids business because some of its clients the pandemic
its network spanning Alberta and BC. were without power and could not receive its
The plan is aimed at providing a storage deliveries. will lead to
delivery service that would prevent pipeline Looking ahead to the remainder of the year,
bottlenecks from depressing Canadian nat- TC Energy has set a budget of roughly CAD7bn “significantly”
ural gas prices. It comes after NGTL accepted ($5.6bn) for investment into growth projects,
an emergency two-year plan in mid-2019 in maintenance capital and contributions to equity higher costs
an effort to combat low prices. The Canadian investments. The majority of this will go towards and delays to
Energy Regulator (CER) has rejected a request NGTL system expansions, US gas pipelines, the
by the Explorers and Producers Association of Bruce Power life extension programme and the construction
Canada (EPAC) for a one-year extension of the normal course maintenance, according to TC
emergency plan. Energy’s executive vice president of strategy schedule for
In the US, meanwhile, TC Energy brought the and corporate development and chief financial
BXP gas pipeline project into partial service in officer, Donald Marchand. Coastal GasLink.
October, with full service on the system begin- “We do not believe disruptions related to
ning in January. The company also recently COVID-19 will be material to our overall 2021
approved the Wisconsin Access project, which capital programme, but recognised that uncer-
involves replacing, upgrading and modernis- tainty exists in both the short and longer term,”
ing certain facilities while reducing emissions Marchand said.™

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