TransCanada Secures Customers for North Bay Service
Canadian pipeline company TransCanada said December 5 it has secured 630mn ft3/day of new natural gas transportation contracts from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) to North Bay, Ontario.
The long-term, fixed-price contracts resulted from TransCanada’s recent North Bay Junction (NBJ) open season, and provide for service on the Canadian Mainline that will reach markets in Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes and the northeastern US. The Canadian Mainline currently moves about 3bn ft3/day of natural gas – about 20% of total WCSB production.
“We’re pleased to offer an innovative solution on our Canadian Mainline that will benefit customers from western Canada all the way to the Maritimes,” said Tracy Robinson, executive vice-president of TransCanada Canadian natural gas pipelines. “It helps WCSB producers compete for market, benefits current customers through greater use of existing capacity on the Mainline, and attracts new customers in the Maritimes.”
Customers have signed contracts with terms ranging from 10 to 21 years for service to North Bay Junction at a fixed toll of C$0.93/GJ. And some, TransCanada said, have also signed similar contracts for service from NBJ to end-use markets, some of which will require expansion of Mainline compression capacity in eastern Canada at an estimated cost of C$250mn (US$187mn).
Depending on the expansion facilities required to provide the service downstream of NBJ, TransCanada said targeted in-service dates range from November 2019 to November 2021. It did not, however, identify a potential client or clients for that service, saying only that the regulatory process before Canada’s National Energy Board would begin before the end of the year.
Two proposed LNG facilities in Nova Scotia – LNG Limited’s 8mn metric tons/year (mt/yr) Bear Head LNG project on Cape Breton and Pieridae Energy’s proposed 10mn mt/yr Goldboro LNG plant in Guysborough County – could potentially make use of the service. Neither company responded to requests for comment from NGW.