TC Energy on Thursday awarded more than $1.6 billion in contracts to six major American contractors to build more than 800 miles of the now-stalled Keystone XL Pipeline in three states in 2021, Kallanish Energy reports.
The six companies will be responsible for hiring more than 7,000 union workers.
The companies are Barnard Pipeline of Bozeman, Montana, Associated Pipeline of Houston, Texas, Michels of Brownsville, Texas, Precision Pipeline of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Price Gregory International of Katy, Texas, and U.S. Pipeline of Houston, Texas.
Additional contracts will be awarded later, the Alberta-based company said.
The total number of U.S. workers is expected to exceed 8,000 and they will earn $900 million in gross wages, it said.
Selecting the construction companies is “an important next step,” said Richard Prior, president of Keystone XL Pipeline, in a statement.
The $8 billion pipeline has been stalled by a legal fight over stream-crossing permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The case is pending before a federal appeals court.
It will move crude oil from Alberta to the U.S. Midwest.
The pipeline will be 1,209 miles in length: 327 miles in Canada and 882 miles in the U.S. in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.
Construction has started on the pipeline in Canada.
It would run from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would connect to pipelines to Illinois and the Gulf Coast.
It would move 830,000 barrels per day.
The pipeline was first proposed in 2008. It was killed in 2015 by President Barack Obama and revived in 2017 by President Donald J. Trump.
In other news, TC Energy announced that it will proceed with its Wisconsin Access Project to increase natural gas capacity and reduce emissions on its ANR Pipeline system.
The $200 milli0on project will boost capacity by 72 million cubic feet per day to utilities in the U.S. Midwest.
The work will take place in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.
The project calls for meter station upgrades, compressor station modifications and emissions-cutting horsepower replacements, the company said.
TC Energy reported net income attributable to common shares for the third quarter of $904 million or 96 cents per share.
That compares net income of $739 million or 79 cents a share in 3Q 2019.
Comparable earnings for 3Q 2020 were $893 million or 95 cents a share, compared to $970 million or $1.04 per share in 3Q 2019.
“During the first nine months of 2020, our diversified portfolio of essential energy infrastructure continued to perform very well,” said president and CEO Russ Girling in a statement. “Results once again highlight the resiliency of our assets despite significant volatility in global energy markets.”
The company said its assets “have been largely unimpacted” by the coronavirus pandemic.
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