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TC Energy Sells 40% Interest in Columbia Pipeline to Investor GIP

TransCanada Corporation, which renamed itself TC Energy in 2019, bought out/merged in U.S.-based Columbia Pipeline Group (now Columbia Gas Transmission) in 2016 (see TransCanada and Columbia Pipeline Tie the Knot Today). TransCanada paid $13 billion for Columbia, including the assumption of $2.8 billion of debt. Yesterday TC Energy announced it is selling a 40% stake in Columbia for US$3.9 billion (C$5.2 billion) to investment firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). TC will retain majority ownership and operate the Columbia assets, which include 11,899 miles of pipeline extending from New York state to the Midwest and Southeast, along with dozens of storage fields in multiple states.
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NY DEC Intentionally Delays Permits for Iroquois Compressor Upgrades

It is so maddening and frustrating to live and (if you are a business), operate in New York State. We have one-party rule: The radical leftwing of the Democrat Party. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (a lecher and liar) and current Gov. Kathy Hochul (Lt. Governor under Cuomo) are completely controlled by the radical environmental movement. Cuomo/Hochul’s latest target is to block the expansion of two compressor stations along the Iroquois Gas Transmission pipeline, preventing an additional 125 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) of Marcellus/Utica gas flowing into New York City and New England.
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Court: Columbia Pipe Shareholders Shafted in Sale, TC Energy Liable

TransCanada Corporation, which renamed itself TC Energy in 2019, made a play for and bought out/merged in U.S.-based Columbia Pipeline Group in 2016 (see TransCanada and Columbia Pipeline Tie the Knot Today). TransCanada paid $13 billion for Columbia, including the assumption of $2.8 billion of debt. TransCanada paid Columbia shareholders $25.50 per share in cash. However, some Columbia shareholders were not happy with the price paid and said the deal was all hush-hush until it was simply popped on everyone at the last minute. Nobody else had a chance to bid up the price, and the price did not reflect the company’s true value, according to the disgruntled shareholders. So they sued. And on Friday, they won.
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Fire at Miss. Compressor Station Reduces M-U Flows to Gulf Coast

click for larger version

It’s interesting that a single point of failure, one compressor station, can impact an entire region. Last Friday morning around 1 am, storms moved through Alcorn County, Mississippi. Lightning struck a “vertical gas pipe” at the Columbia Gulf Transmission Corinth natural gas compressor station, releasing and igniting natural gas. One local news station characterized it as a “massive gas fire” that “prompted county-wide response.” The fire burned for over four hours until firefighters could put it out. Some 2.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of Marcellus/Utica molecules flow through that compressor station on their way to the Gulf Coast.
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Columbia Virginia Reliability Pipe Project Gets Favorable dEIS

Last August, Columbia Gas Transmission (a subsidiary of TC Energy) filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the Virginia Reliability Project (VRP), which includes two new compressor units and the replacement of 49 miles of existing pipeline (see Columbia Files w/FERC to Replace 48 Miles of Pipe in Southeast Va.). VRP will add 100 MMcf/d of incremental capacity on Columbia’s system to service delivery points in southeast Virginia, namely Virginia Natural Gas. The project rolls on. A few weeks ago, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a draft Environmental Impact State (dEIS) that finds the project won’t hurt Mom Nature.
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Chemours & TC Energy Collaborate on 2 Hydrogen Hub Plants in WV

One of the world’s largest chemical companies, the Chemours Company (which you used to know as DuPont), along with TC Energy (which you used to know as TransCanada), announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the potential development of two electrolysis-based hydrogen production facilities at or near Chemours’ Washington Works and Belle manufacturing sites in West Virginia. Both companies are part of the effort to attract a hydrogen hub to West Virginia called Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2). The financial terms of the Chemours/TC Energy deal were not disclosed.
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TC Energy Branches Out into Liquefied Hydrogen – Orders 2 LH2 Units

Plug Power Hydrogen Liquefier (click for larger version)

You’ve heard about LNG–or liquefied natural gas. But what about the FAR more explosive LH2? That’s liquefied hydrogen. Better known as rocket fuel (because rockets use LH2 as their main power source). Just like super-chilling natural gas into a liquid makes it easier and more economical to transport (especially on ships), super-chilling hydrogen makes it easier to transport too. TC Energy (formerly TransCanada), a gigantic pipeline company with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica, recently ordered two hydrogen liquefaction units to be used at two sites not identified and not yet operational.
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WV Big Coal Pushes Back Against Partnership to Promote LNG Exports

Two days ago, MDN told you that the Apostle of LNG, Toby Rice (CEO of EQT), had convinced his buddies at Williams and TC Energy (two pipeline companies) to join him in his latest effort to push for more U.S. LNG exports (see EQT, TC Energy, Williams Launch Partnership to Promote LNG Exports). The new club Rice and his friends formed is called the Partnership to Address Global Emissions (PAGE). The group said it would advocate for policies that encourage the development of the infrastructure (pipelines) needed to increase the production and exporting of LNG in order to replace coal and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. That bit about replacing coal has raised the hackles of the West Virginia Coal Association.
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EQT, TC Energy, Williams Launch Partnership to Promote LNG Exports

EQT CEO Toby Rice has been and is on a mission to spread the gospel of LNG (see EQT CEO Toby Rice Unveils Nationwide Plan to “Unleash” U.S. LNG). We call Toby the Apostle of LNG. Yesterday, Apostle Toby (representing EQT), along with two other companies, TC Energy (formerly TransCanada) and Williams, launched a new group called Partnership to Address Global Emissions (PAGE). PAGE will advocate for policies that encourage the development of the infrastructure (pipelines) needed to increase the production and exporting of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) to replace foreign coal and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
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FERC Extends Deadline for La. XPress Compressor Construction

In October 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally, after months of dithering, approved TC Energy to begin construction on its Louisiana XPress project to beef up flows along the existing Columbia pipeline system by an additional 850 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) by adding three new compressor stations and expanding a fourth compressor in Louisiana (see FERC Finally Approves Louisiana XPress Compressor Construction). The work was supposed to be done and dusted no later than Sept. 17th of this year. FERC just granted TC/Columbia an extra three months to get it done.
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Antis Seek to Silence Pipe Industry Free Speech Ads to Minorities

There is a very dangerous thing happening across the country. If you happen to have an opinion, a viewpoint, that’s different from the socialist left–and if you want to express that opinion in social media, via paid ads, etc., the left wants it shut down, calling it “dangerous.” You see, the socialist left can’t compete in the marketplace of free and open ideas and tolerance. Leftists are the most intolerant among us. Case in point: the group Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future (founded in 2010) promotes information about the useful role of natural gas and the pipelines that flow it–and those ads target (among others) black and Latino voters. The ads are effective, so the socialist left is attempting to shut them down–kill free speech.
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WV Legislators Look for Solution to Maryland Blocking Potomac Pipe

Columbia Gas, a subsidiary of Canada-based TC Energy (formerly TransCanada), wants to build a tiny 3.37-mile, 8-inch pipeline under the Potomac River from Maryland to West Virginia. The Eastern Panhandle Expansion, as it is called, is being blocked by the lefties in Maryland (see Fed Judge Upholds Maryland Decision to Block Pipe Under Potomac). West Virginia House of Delegates members recently debated what could be done to overcome Maryland’s illegal blockade of the pipeline.
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Molecules for 25% of LNG Exports Flow Thru TC Energy Pipelines

LNG seems to be the word on everyone’s lips these days–everyone in the oil and gas space, that is. Two weeks ago TC Energy (formerly TransCanada), a huge midstream/pipeline company, issued its first quarter update and held a conference call with analysts. We’re just now learning about some of the chatter coming from that update–very interesting chatter. LNG was a hot topic–flowing more molecules, especially Marcellus/Utica molecules–to LNG export facilities along the Gulf Coast. TC Energy CEO Francois Poirier said during a conference call that roughly one-quarter (25%) of all the molecules that flow to U.S. LNG export facilities get to those facilities by traveling through TC’s pipelines.
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Biden EPA Bashes Two Southeast Virginia Pipeline Projects at FERC

In July 2020 Dominion Energy announced it was canceling the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP)–a 600-mile Marcellus/Utica pipeline project from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina (see Dominion Cancels Atlantic Coast Pipe, Sells Pipe Biz for $9.7B). Two very small and separate pipeline upgrade projects in southeast Virginia proposed in December 2021 would substitute, at least to some degree, for the absent gas volumes from ACP. However, the Biden EPA is bashing both projects based on irrational global warming fears. Another attack of the Bidenistas against the oil and gas industry.
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Iroquois Gas Enhancement by Compression Project Approved by FERC

The Iroquois Gas Transmission pipeline project called the Enhancement by Compression (ExC) increases horsepower at three compression stations–two in New York and one in Connecticut–by an extra 125 MMcf/d, flowing more Marcellus/Utica gas into New York City and New England (see Despite Antis’ Best Efforts, More NatGas Coming to New England). The ExC project is supposed to begin construction in spring 2023 and be placed in service by November of 2023. Yesterday, in a surprise move, the five commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted to approve the project. It’s a miracle!
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Pipe Under Potomac River Comes Back to Life; Maryland Mixed Signals

Columbia Gas, a subsidiary of Canada-based TC Energy, wants to build a tiny 3.37-mile, 8-inch pipeline under the Potomac River from Maryland to West Virginia. The Eastern Panhandle Expansion, as it is called, is being blocked by the lefties in Maryland (see Fed Judge Upholds Maryland Decision to Block Pipe Under Potomac). Maryland used the same flawed legal argument that New Jersey used to block PennEast Pipeline–that eminent domain can’t be used against land owned or controlled by a state. PennEast won its case against NJ in the U.S. Supreme Court in June (see PennEast Pipeline Squeaks Out 5-4 Supreme Court Victory Over NJ). Columbia now has grounds and is challenging Maryland in court once again. Columbia expects to win, and for good reason.
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