Brookfield Infrastructure and its institutional partners have agreed to acquire from Enbridge Inc., Calgary, Enbridge’s Canadian natural gas gathering and processing business in the Montney, Peace River Arch, Horn River, and Liard basins in British Columbia and Alberta for $4.31 billion (Can.) in cash.
The sold assets include 19 natural gas processing plants and liquids handling facilities, with a total operating capacity of 3.3 bcfd and 3,550 km of natural gas gathering pipelines.
The sale advances the company’s move to a pure play regulated pipeline and utility business model, said Al Monaco, president and chief executive officer. Close to $7.5 billion (Can.) in asset sales have been announced this year, he said, noting the company has “more than doubled our initial target of $3 billion (Can.) (OGJ Online, May 9, 2018).”
Separate sale agreements have been entered for facilities currently governed by provincial regulations (Alberta and British Columbia), and those governed by federal National Energy Board regulations, the company said. The transaction involving the sale of the provincially regulated facilities is expected to close this year. The transaction involving the sale of the federally regulated facilities is anticipated to close in mid-2019.
Enbridge retains its long-haul regulated natural gas transmission assets, including the Westcoast transmission system in British Columbia and the Alliance pipeline that carries gas from western Canada to the Chicago market.