Rumours of TransCanada-Columbia take over arise

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The Wall Street Journal has initiated a series of reports that TransCanada is involved in talks to take-over Houston based Columbia Pipeline Group, which owns and operates more than 15,000 miles of strategically located U.S. interstate pipeline in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Mid-West regions.

Citing people ‘familiar with the matter,’ the Journal reported the deal could be valued at well over ten billion dollars, and announced in the coming weeks.

Calgary based Trans-Canada says, “While we are in discussions regarding a potential transaction with a third party, no agreement has been reached, and there is no assurance these discussions will continue or that any transaction will be agreed upon.”

It went on to say, “Until such time as it is appropriate to make a public announcement on any potential transaction — should one occur — TransCanada will not comment further on this matter.”

To date there’s been no reported comment at all from Columbia Pipeline Group, but after being briefly halted today, the companies’ shares jumped 15 per cent, while those of TransCanada, at last report, were off about three per cent.

TransCanada is, of course, the company behind two highly controversial proposed oil pipeline projects.

One is the cross-Canada Energy East pipeline, which would move Western Canadian oil to ports on the Atlantic Coast. But the other is the long debated Keystone XL pipeline, which would connect Gulf Coast refineries to Western Canadians crude.

Meantime, Columbia owns and operates a pipeline and storage system, which annually serves customers in 16 different states with more than one trillion cubic feet of natural gas from the Gulf Coast.

Needless to say, the take-over report has fueled some high octane speculation and it comes at a time, when Prime Minister Trudeau — under Eastern Canadian pressure to reject the Energy East project — is on an official state visit to Washington, where his host is President Obama, who last November rejected the Keystone XL project.