TC Energy posts C$1 billion quarterly loss on Keystone XL suspension

KENNEY'S LOSS OF ALBERTA'S TAXPAYER MONEY 

EXACTLY WHAT WAS INVESTED 

(Reuters) -Canadian pipeline operator TC Energy on Friday swung to a loss in the first quarter, hit by C$2.2 billion ($1.81 billion) impairment charges related to the suspension of its Keystone XL pipeline project.

© Reuters/TODD KOROL A TC Energy pump station sits behind mounds of dirt from the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline as it lies idle near Oyen

The pipeline was planned to carry 830,000 barrels per day of heavy crude from Canada's Alberta province to Nebraska in the United States.

The company said the charge was related to halting work on the Keystone XL pipeline and a reassessment of related projects like the Heartland Pipeline, after U.S. President Joe Biden revoked a key permit for the project in January.

TC Energy, whose new Chief Executive Francois Poirier took the helm in January, owns the largest network of natural gas pipelines in North America as well as the existing Keystone oil pipeline and power and storage assets.

The company posted a C$2.51 billion loss from its oil pipelines, of which Keystone is the biggest contributor, compared with a C$411 million profit in the same period last year.

It reported net loss attributable to shareholders of C$1.1 billion, or C$1.11 per share, in the three months ended March 31 compared with a profit of C$1.1 billion a year earlier.

Excluding items, the Calgary, Alberta-based company earned C$1.16 per share, slightly better than analysts' average estimate of C$1.10, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

($1 = 1.2176 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Shariq Khan in Bengaluru and Nia Williams in Calgary; Editing by Arun Koyyur)