TC Energy Tops Earnings Estimates On Strong Natural Gas Demand

Canada’s pipeline operator TC Energy Corporation reported on Wednesday higher-than-expected earnings for the third quarter amid strong utilization rates of its natural gas pipelines.

TC Energy earned US$0.73 (C$1.00) per common share for the third quarter, down from C$1.07 per common share for the same period in 2022, but above the average analyst estimate of C$0.97 per share.

Strong utilization rates at TC Energy’s Natural Gas Pipelines business “demonstrate the demand for our services and the longer-term criticality of our assets,” the company said.  

Deliveries via pipelines to U.S. LNG facilities rose by 1.4% year-over-year to an average of 3.1 Bcf/d for the third quarter.

Demand for U.S. LNG has been high as Europe seeks to replace Russian gas supply and Asian demand has started to recover from last year amid favorable arbitrage economics.

“The Asian buyers are back in the LNG business: today, the JKM is at TTF plus $2 to $3, which means that they are ready to buy. And today, most of the cargoes are going to Asia because the spot market is in favor of Asia,” TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanné said on the French supermajor’s earnings call last week.

TC Energy’s U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines business achieved a new record of deliveries to power generators of 5.2 Bcf on July 28, 2023.

During the third quarter, TC Energy achieved mechanical completion on the Coastal GasLink project ahead of its year-end target, the company said.

The Coastal GasLink, like any pipeline project in Canada, spurred a lot of opposition from anti-oil and gas activists but they could not suspend the construction of the infrastructure, which should help put Canada on the global LNG stage at a time of elevated demand. The pipeline will feed gas from Dawson Creek, near the border of British Columbia with Alberta, to the LNG Canada plant on BC’s coast.  

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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