TRANSCANADA: Natural Gas Profits boosted in US & Mexico

[Oscar]

TransCanada's profits boosted by natural gas pipelines in the U.S. and Mexico

[ https://canadians.org/blog/transcanadas ... and-mexico ]

May 8, 2017 - 8:10 am

(PHOTO: TransCanada pipeline construction in Mexico. Photo from 3BL Media.)

The Calgary-based transnational TransCanada Corp. saw increased profit this first-quarter notably from natural gas pipelines in the United States and Mexico.

Reuters reports, "Earnings from TransCanada's U.S. natural gas pipelines more than doubled the past quarter, helped by its acquisition of Columbia Pipeline Group Inc last year for about $13 billion. Profit from its Mexico natural gas pipelines also rose about 162 percent to C$118 million. The company's net profit attributable to shareholders rose to C$643 million ($467 million), or 74 Canadian cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31 from C$252 million, or 36 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier." The Canadian Press adds, "Revenue was $3.39 billion, up from $2.50 billion in the first quarter of 2016 and about $200 million above analyst estimates."

In November 2015, Bloomberg reported, "TransCanada won the rights last week for its sixth pipeline in Mexico, one of the company’s key targets for growth. ...TransCanada’s expansion in Mexico coincides with the country’s overhaul of its energy industry that ended the state-run monopolies of the Comision Federal de Electricidad and Petroleos Mexicanos, opening the door to private investment."

In December 2013, the Mexican government passed an 'energy reform law' that means transnational corporations can now explore and extract the vast oil and gas reserves in Mexico. As a result, natural gas production is also expected to increase from 5.7 billion cubic feet now to 10.4 billion cubic feet by 2025.

Mexico has the fourth largest reserve of shale gas in the world, an estimated 681 trillion cubic feet of it. The Inter Press Service has reported, "Fracking takes 7.5 million to 30 million litres of water per well to release the gas, while a field of 10 wells would need between 25 million and 40 million litres of water. ...[Mexico's state-owned petroleum company PEMEX] has not clarified where the water comes from [for its planned expansion of shale gas wells] or what is being done with the waste."

The Council of Canadians supports the Mexican Alliance against Fracking call for a ban on fracking in Mexico.
[ https://jen-wilton.com/tag/mexican-alli ... -fracking/ ]

TransCanada is also the company behind these two pipelines:

1- The Energy East pipeline would move 1.1 million barrels of oil per day, generate about 32 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year, enable a 39 per cent increase in tar sands production from 2012 levels, cross 2,900 waterways, would threaten the drinking water of 5 million people, and is opposed by the 122 First Nations in both Canada and the U.S. that comprise the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion. If TransCanada made just $1 of profit on every barrel shipped via this pipeline, that would amount to about $400 million a year. At $10 a barrel, it would be $40 billion a year.

2- The Keystone XL pipeline would move 830,000 barrels of oil per day, generate about 22 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year, facilitate a 36 per cent increase in current tar sands production, would cross more than 1,000 waterways in the United States, could contaminate the Ogallala aquifer (a source of drinking water for more than 2 million people), and is also opposed by the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion. If TransCanada made just $1 of profit on every barrel shipped via this pipeline, that would amount to about $300 million a year. At $10 a barrel, it would be $30 billion a year.

Our Risk. Their Reward.

Brent Patterson's blog
Political Director of the Council of Canadians
[ https://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]