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By Canadian Press

ECONOMY

U.S. tariff threats making Canadians more open to energy projects, Pembina Pipeline CEO says

Feb 28, 2025 | 11:46 AM

U.S. tariff threats are making politicians and the general public more receptive to Canadian energy infrastructure projects, the chief executive of Pembina Pipeline Corp. says.

“Hopefully with what’s happening, it will be obvious to the country that these projects need to get built and so we think that there’s definitely positive tailwinds,” Scott Burrows said Friday on a conference call with analysts to discuss his company’s latest results.

“You’re not going to see anything in the next day or two, but we continue to see tailwinds in terms of potentially deregulation, speedier project approvals, which should benefit the industry long-term.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to slap 25 per cent tariffs on all imports from his country’s neighbours, except for energy which will face a 10 per cent tariff. The move was delayed by about a month until March 4 after Canada and Mexico agreed to new border security measures, but Trump said on Thursday he hadn’t seen any progress.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers released an “energy platform” on Friday that outlines steps Ottawa should take as the trade relationship becomes more volatile.

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They include many measures the industry has long been pushing for, such as streamlining project approvals, advancing emissions reductions technologies and diversifying market access.

“The global landscape is shifting rapidly. In recent weeks, it’s become clear our relationship with America has fundamentally changed — and we must act with urgency,” CAPP president Lisa Baiton said.

Chris Scherman, Pembina’s senior vice-president of marketing and strategy, said the company’s position on the B.C. coast provides somewhat of a shield as the Canada-U. S. trade relationship grows more fraught.

The Calgary-based midstream company, whose business is largely based on oil and gas processing and shipping, has a rail-accessible marine export facility for propane in Prince Rupert, B.C., and wharfs at the Port of Vancouver.

Pembina is also pursuing a floating liquefied natural gas terminal in Kitimat, B.C., in partnership with the Haisla Nation. The Cedar LNG project, which would enable Canadian gas to be sold in global markets, is expected to cost US$4 billion and be up and running in late 2028.

“We’ve been largely positioning ourselves as much off the West Coast as possible,” Scherman said. “So that’s really helped insulate us.”

The timing of potential tariffs “isn’t great” when it comes to signing new contracts for natural gas liquids, Scherman added.

“At least to date, we’ve seen a fairly reasonable approach with buyers where tariffs could have an impact and I think we will certainly be adding terms that are tariff-specific and finding the right way to get that business done.”

Late Thursday, Pembina announced a deal that it hopes will get it into the data-centre-powering business.

It has entered into agreements to take on a 50 per cent stake in the Greenlight Electricity Centre northeast of Edmonton alongside partner Keneticor Holdings LP, a subsidiary of pension manager OPTrust.

They aim to build a natural-gas fired power plant that could eventually produce up to 1,800 megawatts. It would be built on land Pembina owns in Redwater, Alta., that is big enough to accommodate a data centre complex with the same energy use as the plant’s output.

Alberta’s technology minister has said the province hopes to see $100 billion worth of artificial intelligence data centres under construction in the next five years. The massive operations require an immense amount of electricity to run and cool computer servers.

Stu Taylor, Pembina’s senior vice-president and corporate development officer, told analysts that Greenlight would offer similar stability and returns to its midstream energy operations.

“It quickly became very appealing to Pembina that we could make this look exactly like one of our other businesses.”

Taylor said the partners envision building Greenlight in 450-megawatt phases at a cost of roughly $1.5 billion each. It expects to make a final investment decision next year, with construction kicking off in 2029 or 2030.

Also Thursday, Pembina said it earned $572 million in its fourth quarter, down from $698 million a year earlier. Revenue totalled $2.15 billion, up from $1.84 billion.