TransCanada Seeks to Build C$983 Million Gas Pipeline (Update4)
By Jim Polson
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- TransCanada Corp. will seek approval for a C$983 million ($996 million) natural-gas pipeline project to increase access to production in northwestern Alberta needed by Canadian oil-sands producers.
A permit for the North Central Corridor project will be filed today with the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board for the 300-kilometer (186-mile) pipeline and associated facilities, TransCanada said in a statement. The company's pipeline system already is the largest in Canada.
The gas is needed to help extract oil from Alberta's tar- like oil-sands deposits, estimated to hold the largest reserves of oil outside of the Middle East. The province's energy regulator last week forecast that oil-sands production will more than double to 2.8 million barrels a day by 2015.
The 42-inch pipeline will connect the northwestern portion of the Alberta System at the Meikle River compressor station to the northeastern portion of the system at the Woodenhouse station, the company said. It will have the capacity to transport 800 million cubic feet of gas a day, spokeswoman Shela Shapiro said in an e-mailed response to a query.
Construction may begin in a year, with completion of the first segment expected in April 2009 and the second in April 2010, TransCanada said.
TransCanada fell 4 cents to C$38.86 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stock has fallen 4.3 percent this year.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aB8vCapYv.LU&refer=c...
To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Polson in New York at jpolson@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: November 21, 2007 16:33 EST
