TransCanada to build $1.9 billion pipeline link for Kitimat LNG project

CALGARY – TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) says it plans to build a $1.9-billion pipeline to help feed Chevron Corp. and Apache Corp.’s proposed liquefied natural gas facility near Kitimat, B.C.

The Merrick Mainline Pipeline Project will run 260 kilometres from Dawson Creek, in B.C.’s resource-rich northeast, to Summit Lake, where Chevron and Apache’s Pacific Trail Pipeline begins. Pacific Trail will deliver gas the rest of the way to the coast, where the resource will be chilled into a liquid state and exported abroad via tanker.

Chevron and Apache’s Canadian subsidiaries have signed an agreement for TransCanada to deliver about 1.9 billion cubic feet per day on the Merrick pipeline.

The project could be up and running in the first quarter of 2020.

While early work is underway on the Merrick project, construction will only go ahead if it gets the green light from regulators and if Chevron and Apache decide to move ahead with their Kitimat LNG project. TransCanada expects to file an application to the National Energy Board late this year.

With the latest project, TransCanada now has four natural gas pipelines under development in the region totalling $12.6 billion in investment.