Keep On Truckin' -- Or Perhaps Better Said, Keep On Piping -- February 15, 2018

From Rigzone:

While TransCanada Corp. continues to weigh whether to build its long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline, the company announced another major expansion of its natural gas system in Alberta.

TransCanada will spend $1.9 billion to expand its NGTL System, adding 1 billion cubic feet of daily shipping capacity. The company struck binding agreements with shippers that start in November 2020 and April 2021, with an average contract term of almost 29 years.

The expansion shows TransCanada isn’t sitting still while it considers whether to move ahead with Keystone XL. The company has been proceeding with preliminary work on the $8 billion, 1,200-mile project, but hasn’t officially announced a decision to build it. Activists haven’t given up trying to block it, with opposition groups filing a motion to invalidate a key permit last week. TransCanada made no significant new announcements about Keystone XL in its fourth-quarter earnings report on Thursday.

Even without Keystone XL, the company’s oil transport business posted strong results. The unit’s comparable earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 33 percent, helped by higher volumes on the existing Keystone system and the start of operations on its Grand Rapids and Northern Courier lines.