TC Energy Plans to Discuss Selling Natural Gas Pipeline Stake to Indigenous Groups

(Bloomberg) -- TC Energy Corp. is planning to meet with representatives of indigenous communities to discuss selling them a stake in its western Canadian natural gas pipeline network.

A meeting on the potential deal involving the Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. system will be held on Jan. 15, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the information is private. 

The gathering will be in Edmonton and 72 communities from provinces including Alberta and British Columbia have been invited to attend, the people said, citing a letter the company sent last month.

“We want to create mutually beneficial partnerships with indigenous communities. Potential ownership in our projects and assets means that indigenous communities can share in Canada’s resource economy,” Calgary-based TC said in an emailed statement, without providing more details. 

TC Energy has been selling assets to reduce its debt after suffering from cost overruns on the Coastal GasLink pipeline project, which would supply Canada’s first major liquefied natural gas plant. Western Canadian energy companies have also increasingly sought to include indigenous communities as equity partners in their projects, in part to help overcome the environmental and legal opposition their operations sometimes face. 

TC Energy last year sought approval from the Canada Energy Regulator to transfer ownership of the NGTL system from one corporate entity to another to “facilitate potential future minority ownership of the system, including possible participation from Indigenous groups,” according a regulatory filing. 

The NGTL system gathers and transports gas from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta and British Columbia to both domestic and export markets. The company says the roughly 24,600-kilometer (15,300-mile) system handles about a tenth of North America’s natural gas supply.

TC Energy last year agreed to sell a 40% stake in two US natural gas pipeline networks for $3.9 billion (C$5.2 billion) and announced it would spin off its oil pipelines unit. 

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