TransCanada terminates plan for $15.7-billion Energy East pipeline — Meenal Vamburkar

TransCanada Corp. announced Thursday that it is scrapping plans to build the Energy East Pipeline and Eastern Mainline projects, oil and natural gas conduits that have faced regulatory hurdles in Canada. As a result of the decision TransCanada expects an estimated $1-billion after-tax, non-cash charge to be recorded in the fourth quarter. TransCanada expects “no recoveries of costs from third parties.” Energy producers in Alberta had hoped the TransCanada Projects would help them diversify their markets, with most of the existing pipeline network linking the energy-rich province to the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast. Energy East would have carried about 1.1 million barrels of oil a day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to eastern Canadian refineries and a marine terminal in New Brunswick on Canada’s Atlantic Coast. The Eastern Mainline project would have added new gas pipeline and compression facilities to an existing system in Southern Ontario, where most of the country’s home and industrial gas consumers are located.  - The Financial Post

Quebec politicians hail demise of controversial Energy East pipeline — CBC

In Quebec, where opposition to the Energy East pipeline was fervent and widespread, many are pleased with TransCanada's decision to drop its proposal for the project. In a tweet, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said he was "proud" that the project is being dropped, saying he, other Montreal-area mayors and citizens' groups played a key role in the file. Coderre has said he believes the pipeline represents significant environmental threats and too few economic benefits for greater Montreal. Natural Resources Minister Pierre Arcand said he is not surprised by the company's decision, considering it had suspended the process a month ago. Parti Québécois Leader Jean-François Lisée said he considers the decision to be "a great victory," adding the PQ was the only provincial party that never wanted the project to pass. - CBC

BC Hydro says three LNG companies continue to demand electricity, justifying Site C — Geoffrey Morgan

BC Hydro’s chief regulatory officer Fred James said in a letter sent to the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) that BC Hydro still expects three LNG projects will need power from its controversial and expensive Site C hydroelectric dam. The document sent is also an attempt to explain why BC Hydro continues to forecast a surge in electricity demand in the province even though massive LNG projects proposed by Malaysia’s state owned oil company Petronas and China’s CNOOC Nexen have been cancelled. An explanation is needed because B.C.’s new NDP government had promised the BCUC would review the need for the $9-billion Site C dam. - The Financial Post  

Petronas puts land, gas plants and pipelines up for sale after killing LNG project in B.C. — CP

BMO Capital Markets has been hired by Progress Energy (owned by Petronas) to assist with the sale of production lands, gas plants, and an extensive pipeline network in Alberta. BMO Capital’s website says its handling the sale of Progress Energy assets that produce the oil-equivalent of about 5,500 barrels per day, including natural gas. It says the assets include Progress Energy’s rights to about 400,000 gross acres in Alberta’s Deep Basin region, other lands, and related assets such as three gas plants. - The National Post  

“Kind of exciting”: Sackville hears details of wind farm plan — Shane Magee

In September, Prowind Canada Inc. and the Beausejour Renewable Energy Co-Operative Ltd. together as Sugar Brook Community Wind Farm Limited Partnership, submitted a proposal to NB Power for a 20-megawatt wind farm that could potential power 5,000 to 7,000 homes. Now the for-profit co-op is announcing that it hopes to raise up to $9-million from New Brunswickers as part of the $60-million wing farm project. Prowind President Helmut Schneider said that the project would “absolutely not” include any government funding. NB Power would have to conduct an environmental impact assessment before the project moves forward. - The Telegraph Journal  

Top talent to talk Canada's energy future — Martin Cash

Some of the world’s most important thinkers on the entire spectrum of global energy issues will be in Winnipeg next week for the Generation Energy conference organized by Natural Resources Canada and hosted by Winnipeg MP and Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr. The two-day conference (Oct. 11-12) will feature presentations from such heavyweight energy actors as Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, economic and social policy theorist Jeremy Rifkin and Eldar Saetre, CEO of Norway’s Statoil. - Winnipeg Free Press

United States

India to import more oil from U.S. as energy ties grow — Freight News

India is expected to forge a closer cooperation with the United States in the energy sector and import more oil due to increase in demand, analysts said. Earlier this week, India received its first ever shipment of U.S. crude when a very large crude carrier docked at Paradip port in the eastern state of Odisha. This is one of the first shipments to India since the United States stopped oil exports in 1975 and follows recent commitments to U.S. oil purchases by Indian state refiners. Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum have placed orders for over 2 million barrels from the United States, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in India posted on their website. “We look forward to working together on further sales of U.S. crude and exploring opportunities to expand the role of natural gas in India,” said Mary Kay Carlson, Charge d’Affaires at the US Embassy in New Delhi. - Freight News

Australia

Energy crisis has reached peak weirdness — Matthew Stephens

Australia's energy crisis would appear to have reached peak weirdness, with former Santos chairman Stephen Gerlach promoting a coal-to-gas project in the southern reaches of the Northern Territory as a commercial and environmentally sustainable solution to east coast supply shortages. That Australia, a nation floating on gas of various natural derivations, might find itself with a need to manufacture the stuff, seems to me one step beyond the absurdity of plans to ship gas from the North West Shelf or Singapore to a port in Victoria so that it can be reprocessed and injected in the east coast pipeline network. Indeed, what we have here is one of the classic back-to-the-future moments. Coal-to-gas is, of course, where the Australian energy business started. - Australian Financial Review