Canada-based TC Energy intends to focus on expansions of its existing natural gas pipeline network in North America to serve growing demand for natural gas service until the mid-2030s, chief executive Francois Poirier said today.
TC Energy has a $32bn backlog in capital projects and is looking at an additional $30bn of projects that may not all come to fruition, Poirier said. The company's focus is on increasing capacity through existing pipelines and pipeline corridors, he said, rather than pursuing greenfield projects that require entirely new routes.
"Our view is that we're going to be able to prosecute all of that with brownfield expansions," Poirier said in an interview on the sidelines of the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Forum. "The industry has been quite innovative in finding the nooks and crannies to move gas around. So I don't see a need for a big greenfield pipeline until the mid-2030s."
Pipeline developers since 2020 have prioritized brownfield projects, after permitting delays and lawsuits delayed or halted proposed pipelines across the eastern US, such as the now-canceled $8bn Atlantic Coast Pipeline. President Donald Trump has pushed to restart new pipeline development, and last month US midstream operator Williams said it was restarting work on the 124-mile (200km) Constitution pipeline and the Northeast Supply Enhancement project.
Last month, TC Energy announced a $900mn expansion of its ANR pipeline system in the US Midwest, known as the Northwoods project. TC Energy will focus on those types of brownfield projects until at least the mid-2030s, Poirier said, when the company forecasts gas production in the Hayettesville and Permian basins will reach maturity. At that point, he expects there will more need to transport Appalachian gas to the US Gulf coast, where demand from LNG export terminals is set to increase.
"Then the question is going to be, is it economical?" Poirier said. "It's going to depend on the price for Henry Hub [gas]. Right now, the Henry Hub price doesn't support a new greenfield pipeline."
Data centers are among the largest drivers of demand growth, Poirier said. In the last three months, TC Energy has seen "quite an acceleration" in demand for gas transportation service from utilities serving that demand, he said. Gas-fired plants are still the fastest way to reliably serve those data centers even though such plants take 3-5 years to build, he said, because renewable power is intermittent and nuclear plants take at least a decade to build.
"If you look at the 660 or so data centers under development and construction in the US, about two-thirds are within 50 miles of our pipelines," Poirier said.
