PIPELINES / TransCanada PipeLines Limited and Amoco Canada Petroleum
Company Ltd. Breaks ground On NGL Extraction Plant
AMOCO CANADA, TRANSCANADA BREAKS GROUND ON A $120 MILLION NATURAL
GAS LIQUIDS EXTRACTION PLANT
CALGARY, July 17 /CNW/ - Amoco Canada Petroleum Company Ltd. and
TransCanada PipeLines Limited, announced today that construction has begun on
a $120 million natural gas liquids (NGL) extraction plant on Amoco Canada's
existing plant site at Empress, Alberta. Up to 220 jobs are expected to be
generated during the peak construction phase of the plant.
Effective October 1999, the new plant is expected to process up to 30
million cubic metres (1.1 billion cubic feet) per day of natural gas, thus
expanding the largest gas plant and natural gas liquids extraction facility in
North America. The new plant is expected to be capable of recovering 3,200
cubic metres (20,000 barrels) per day of ethane to support continued growth of
the Alberta petrochemical industry. The ethane will be transported on the
Amoco-operated Alberta Ethane Gathering System (AEGS) to serve the Alberta
Petrochemical Industry in Joffre and Ft. Saskatchewan.
In addition, the new plant is expected to be able to recover 1,750 cubic
metres (11,000 barrels) per day of other natural gas liquids. The new plant
will be owned jointly by Amoco Canada and Alberta Natural Gas Company Ltd
(ANG) -- a subsidiary of TransCanada -- and operated by Amoco Canada.
''More than a year ago, both Amoco Canada and Alberta Natural Gas
recognized a need to expand the current plant due to the increasing volumes of
natural gas crossing the Alberta/Saskatchewan border, as a result of the
TransCanada Main Line and other pipeline expansions,'' said Randy Findlay,
President, TransCanada's midstream assets and NGL businesses, of which ANG is
a part of. ''Gas gathering and processing in western-Canada is a growing
business and we are committed to expanding our activities in this area.''
''The Empress V Project will provide service to help ensure liquids are
extracted from all natural gas exported from Alberta through Empress,'' said
Boyd Anderson, who is Amoco's worldwide vice president of NGL Supply and
Logistics, and a member of the Amoco Canada Leadership Team. ''Utilizing
existing infrastructure to supply natural gas liquids markets in Alberta,
eastern Canada and the United States provides added value to Alberta's natural
gas resources.''
The public consultation process has been completed for the expansion and
the required Alberta Energy and Utilities Board regulatory applications have
been approved. Contracts have been awarded to Delta Hudson (Calgary office)
for Engineering and construction management, Triton Projects (Edmonton) for
1998 pipe tie-ins, Cord Projects (Calgary) for plant civil and mechanical
construction, and BYZ (Medicine Hat) for site preparation (grading).
Contracts for bulk piping and valves will be awarded shortly. All major
equipment has been purchased. Construction started today with the bulk of
construction expected to commence January, 1999.
TransCanada is a leading North American energy services company with
businesses in transmission, marketing and processing. The company, through
its Cdn$21 billion asset base, provides high value-added energy service
solutions to the North American and international marketplace. Common shares
trade under the symbol TRP, primarily on the Toronto, Montreal and New York
stock exchanges.
Celebrating 50 years of operations in Canada this year, Amoco Canada
Petroleum Company Ltd. is a Calgary-based oil and gas company involved in the
exploration, production and marketing of natural gas, conventional and heavy
oil, natural gas liquids and petrochemicals. It is this country's largest
producer of natural gas and a leader in the North American NGL business.
Amoco Canada is part of Amoco Corporation (AN), the worldwide energy and
chemical company with activities in more than 40 countries. |
