Pipelines need promotion: Girling

CALGARY • Albertan politicians should promote oilsands and pipeline projects in Washington D.C. and overseas, the head of TransCanada Corp., the company seeking approvals to build the Keystone XL and Energy East pipelines, said Friday.

“I think it’s very important for our political leaders to make sure that our customers around the world can be assured that we’re developing this very important resource in the most responsible way possible, and that we’re actually a global leader on many fronts in terms of environmental stewardship,” TransCanada president and CEO Russ Girling said.

Girling was pressed for comment after New Democratic Party leader Rachel Notley, whom polls say may form a majority government in Alberta next week, said she would not lobby for the Keystone XL pipeline in the current political environment. She also said an NDP government would not support midstream competitor Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway pipeline project.

Girling also said TransCanada can live with having a single export terminal in New Brunswick for its proposed Energy East pipeline.

TransCanada’s first quarter results, posted Friday, showed increasing volumes of crude moving on its existing Keystone system to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The company drew $246 million worth of earnings from its liquids pipeline business in the first quarter — a 28 per cent increase from the same quarter last year.

Despite the increased volumes, TransCanada posted a six per cent drop in net income in the quarter, pulling in $387 million compared with $412 million in the same period in 2014. Much of the drop is attributed to lower earnings from the company’s power generation business.