It sure pays to be in the pipeline business. One of the biggest pipeline (i.e. midstream) companies in the U.S. is Spectra Energy. Spectra has a number of existing and planned pipelines in the Marcellus/Utica region. Yesterday Spectra released their second quarter 2016 update, reporting a net income of $305 million for the quarter. Spectra provided a handy list of the ~$6 billion in expansion projects they have under way. One of those projects is the Access Northeast project–representing half of that $6 billion. Access Northeast is the surviving winner of a contest between Spectra Energy and Kinder Morgan to pipe Marcellus and Utica Shale gas to New England and Canada–the “last man standing” when Kinder and their Northeast Energy Direct project bowed out of the race (see NED is Dead – Kinder Morgan Suspends $3.3B New England Pipeline). With respect to Spectra and their Access Northeast project, Spectra CEO Greg Ebel had said yesterday during an earnings conference call that Access Northeast is “advancing towards execution this year” after recently achieving a “number of noteworthy milestones.” That is indeed good news! Here’s yesterday’s 2Q16 update from Spectra, along with an excerpt about Access Northeast from the earnings call…
