TC Pipelines LP had net income of $94 million in first-quarter 2020, compared with $100 million for the same quarter a year earlier. TC Pipelines is self-funding ongoing capital expenditures.
The company in early March 2020 received US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval to begin construction of Phase III of Portland Natural Gas Transmission System’s (PNGTS) Portland XPress (PXP) project. It also has continued permitting, engineering, and construction of its Gas Transmission Northwest (GTN) XPress and Tuscarora XPress projects and to advance its North Baja XPress (NBX) and Iroquois Gas Transmission’s Enhancement by Compression (ExC) projects.
Phases I and II of PXP are in service and on Mar. 5, 2020, FERC granted PNGTS’ request to begin building Phase III. Construction is expected to ramp up during second-quarter 2020 and PXP is on track to be fully in service on Nov. 1, 2020.
TC Pipeline’s GTN Xpress will add 250 MMcfd of capacity on the GTN system between Kingsgate, Ida., and Malin, Ore., by November 2023. Tuscarora Xpress will add compression at an existing station to boost capacity by 15 MMcfd in November 2021.
NBX filed an application with FERC Dec. 16, 2019, to expand one existing compressor station and modify two existing meter stations on the North Baja Pipeline System in Arizona and California. The proposed project would increase NBX’s capacity, with all upgrades occurring on sites currently owned or operated by the company. Construction is expected to start in October 2021 with an anticipated in-service date of November 2022. The North Baja Pipeline supplies gas to Arizona, California, and Mexico.
ExC is a compression only enhancement of Iroquois’ existing system to receive an additional 125 MMcfd of natural gas at Iroquois’ interconnect with the TC Energy Canadian mainline in Waddington, NY, for delivery to New York utilities. ExC involves adding compression and associated gas cooling at existing Iroquois compressor station sites only. TC Pipeline expects to complete construction by Nov. 1, 2023.
On Feb. 12, 2020, TC Energy approved its Alberta XPress project, an expansion of its ANR Pipeline system, with an estimated in-service date of 2022, pending regulatory approvals. This project uses existing capacity on TC Pipeline’s Great Lakes and TC Energy’s Canadian systems to connect growing natural gas supply from the Western Canadian Sedimentary basin to US Gulf Coast liquefaction.