TransCanada PipeLines has completed sales of two more midstreamprocessing plants for $63 million, moving the company about a thirdof the way toward its goal of divesting $3 billion in midstream andinternational assets this year.

“The divestiture program is going extremely well. We have soldapproximately a billion dollars worth of properties,” saidTransCanada spokesman Glenn Herchak. When the company announced thenew asset divestiture program last December, it projected the bulkof the sales would be completed in the second half of the year.(see Daily GPI, Dec. 9)

So far Canadian midstream assets sold have added up to about$105 million, including the Gordondale gas processing and gatheringsystem in Alberta and the Caribou sour gas processing plant andgathering system near Fort St. John, BC, announced yesterday.

Duke Energy Midstream Services Canada bought the Gordondaleplant and Coastal Canada Field Services bought the Caribou Plant,both in May.

Earlier TransCanada sold off the Provost gas plant and gatheringfrom its NovaGas Canada subsidiary and its Pesh Creek processingcomplex. The company also has sold a number of internationalassets, including its East Australian pipeline and several pipelinesystems in Chile, Brazil and Argentina, as well as a crude oilpipeline in Colombia.

Still to be sold are Canadian midstream liquids and extractionplants: Cochrane, outside Calgary, Redwater, near Edmonton andEmpress near Medicine Hat, AB. Also on the market are its Cancarbcarbon thermal black manufacturing facility near Medicine Hat andits Express crude oil pipeline, which runs from Alberta toIllinois.

It also has several international assets looking for a home,including a crude oil and gas platform production facility in theDutch North Sea, a pipeline system in Mexico and other assets inother parts of Latin American. Heading up the overall divestitureprogram is Hal Kvisle, with Ron Turner focusing on theinternational side.

The divestiture program is aimed at paying down debt by gettingrid of some of its widely scattered unregulated assets andstrengthening financial flexibility so the company can focus on itscore areas of pipeline transmission, power generation and gasmarketing.

Along those lines TransCanada is “working with Westcoast Energyto determine the most feasible pipeline infrastructure fromnorthern regions,” Herchak said, to tap the North Slope of Alaskaas well as the Beaufort Sea through the Mackenzie Valley Delta.Through the jointly owned Foothills Pipeline, TransCanada has ashare in the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation System (ANGTS). “Itis the most valid system,” Herchak said, pointing out thatgovernmental approvals are mostly in place for that project. And,”together TransCanada and Westcoast are looking at other projectsin addition to Foothills.”

Duke Energy Field Services, meanwhile, said the addition of theGordondale sour gas processing plant, with a current capacity of 80MMcf/d, and 115 miles of gathering lines, fits strategically withits existing Canadian midstream assets. The plant is licensed forup to 100 MMcf/d and is readily expandable, Duke said.

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