TransCanada profits rise amid pipeline controversy

• 13 years ago (2011-11-02)
• Junior Isles

North America 1021

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TransCanada Corp. (TRP), the Canadian energy company which is hoping to build a $7 billion pipeline from Alberta to Texas refineries, has said its profits have risen due to new crude shipments and the benefits of higher electricity prices from its power generation business in Western Canada.

The company’s third-quarter net income rose to C$397 million ($390.9 million), or 55 cents a share, from C$391 million, or 54 cents, a year earlier, the Calgary-based company said in a statement.

The quarter benefited from initial revenue generated by a first phase of the Keystone pipeline, which was not operational this period last year, according to Steven Paget, an analyst at FirstEnergy Capital Corp.

TransCanada, this February, began shipments on the second phase of Keystone, capable of carrying 591 000 barrels of oil from Alberta to Illinois and Oklahoma.

The company’s extensive plans for a new line expansion, Keystone XL, have ignited controversy among environmentalists opposed to oil-sands production and Nebraska ranchers who fear the pipeline’s route from Canada, across six US states, endangers the Ogallala Aquifer; the region’s main water resource.

The US State Department has to approve the pipeline project before it can go ahead, as it crosses an international border. A decision on this is expected by the end of 2011.

Nebraska’s Republican Governor, Dave Heinemann, has called a special legislative session to consider whether the state can force the company to re-route the pipeline away from potentially sensitive environmental terrain. The company’s officials, though, have warned that such legislation might end up killing the project, if it passes.