On July 27, TC Energy Corp., a Calgary, AB based midstream operator of natural gas and liquids pipelines, oil and natural gas storage, and power generation assets in Canada and the U.S. announced plans to spin out its liquids pipeline division into a separate publicly traded company. Upon tax and regulatory approvals, TC will put the spin out plan to shareholders for a vote in mid-2024, and a hoped for public listing in the second half of 2024, if approved.
TC’s Canadian liquids pipelines assets are limited. In Alberta (see top map below), the White Spruce Pipeline (green line, estimated capacity: 250 Mb/d) transports synthetic crude oil (SCO) 45 miles (72 kilometers) from Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL)’s Horizon Upgrader to a connection with the Grand Rapids Pipeline (blue line, capacity 300 Mb/d, partly owned with PetroChina Canada). From there SCO and other crude production in the oil sands area flows another 287 miles (460 kilometers) to the Fort Saskatchewan region and Edmonton for use by refiners, placed in storage, or transported further afield by third party pipelines. RBN estimates that the Grand Rapids pipeline is greatly underutilized, flowing in the range of 50 to 70 Mb/d since its start up in August 2017 along with the adjacent start up of White Spruce in May 2019. There is also a smaller 28 mile (45 kilometer) South Grand Rapids Pipeline (not shown, capacity 225 Mb/d, partly owned with Keyera Corp) that transports diluent from Edmonton to Fort Saskatchewan.
