Alberta Considers Crown Corporations to Bolster Pipeline Development
The Alberta government is considering creating two Crown corporations to boost natural gas pipeline development and attract more power-hungry data centers.
The plan, outlined in a cabinet briefing document, aims to address concerns that the province may miss out on investments due to a lack of competition within the natural gas transportation sector.
The proposed Crown corporations would carry out system-wide planning for gas infrastructure and construct or backstop pipeline projects. The goal is to provide natural gas producers with several viable alternatives to the NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) conduit, which is owned and operated by Calgary-based TC Energy.
TC Energy's market dominance via NGTL has led to concerns about downstream service reliability risks, according to the document. It also notes that the company's underinvestment in pipeline capacity has caused a market failure in the natural gas sector, leaving key growth regions unable to access gas.