TransCanada plans $1.7 billion oil pipeline project to Illinois

TransCanada Corp., Canada’s largest pipeline operator, announced a $1.7 billion project to carry oil to Illinois, positioning the company to capitalize as heavy-crude output in Alberta rises and U.S. energy demand grows.

The pipeline, called Keystone, would be about 3,000 kilometers (1,865 miles) long and would carry 400,000 barrels of oil a day, the Calgary-based company said.

The Miami Heraldt
Posted on Thu, Feb. 10, 2005

CANADA

TransCanada plans $1.7 billion oil pipeline project to Illinois

With Alberta increasing oil production, Canada’s largest pipeline operator plans a project to bring oil to Illinois.

BY IAN McKINNON

Bloomberg News

TransCanada Corp., Canada’s largest pipeline operator, announced a $1.7 billion project to carry oil to Illinois, positioning the company to capitalize as heavy-crude output in Alberta rises and U.S. energy demand grows.

The pipeline, called Keystone, would be about 3,000 kilometers (1,865 miles) long and would carry 400,000 barrels of oil a day, the Calgary-based company said.

TransCanada, a natural-gas transporter, joins Enbridge Inc. and Terasen Inc. in planning oil pipelines as Shell Canada Ltd. and other producers spend billions of dollars on expansions. Output from Alberta’s oil sands is expected to rise to 2.6 million barrels a day by 2015 from 1 million currently, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

For TransCanada, ”I think it’s a good diversification and helps them to be not just dependent upon gas,” said Zaheer Khan, who helps manage the equivalent of about $3.6 billion in debt securities, including an undisclosed amount of TransCanada bonds, at Baker Gilmore & Associates Inc. in Montreal.

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