Second Sable Island gas pipeline proposed

Two of Canada's largest natural gas companies have announced a formal bid for a $1 billion (Canadian) pipeline from Sable Island off Nova Scotia to U.S. and Canadian markets. TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., Calgary, and utility Gaz Metropolitain Co., Montreal, will file a bid shortly with the National Energy Board. The line would run through Quebec to the U.S. Northeast.

Sept. 16, 1996

2 min read

Two of Canada's largest natural gas companies have announced a formal bid for a $1 billion (Canadian) pipeline from Sable Island off Nova Scotia to U.S. and Canadian markets.

TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., Calgary, and utility Gaz Metropolitain Co., Montreal, will file a bid shortly with the National Energy Board. The line would run through Quebec to the U.S. Northeast.

The project would compete with plans by a group of Sable Island gas developers led by Mobil Oil Canada Ltd. They plan the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline from Nova Scotia via New Brunswick to the U.S. eastern seabord and Boston. Westcoast Energy Inc., Vancouver, B.C., is the lead pipeline partner and is expected to file an application in October. There is an estimated 3 tcf of natural gas in the Sable gas fields.

TransCanada and Gaz Metropolitain want to build a line through New Brunswick to link at Quebec City with the TransQuebec & Maritimes pipeline. The companies each own 50% of that line. TransCanada also wants to ship some of the Sable gas via the proposed Portland Natural Gas System, in which it has an interest, to Boston.

Politics a factor

Political factors are likely to come into play as the rival projects advance to the regulatory stage. Quebec, whose government wants to separate the province from Canada, wants the Sable line to run through Quebec en route to the U.S. Some observers feel Quebec will make the pipeline routing a political issue and claim it has been rejected by the federal government if it does not run through Quebec.