Westcoast Energy Inc. Westcoast Energy Inc
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Westcoast Energy Inc. Westcoast Energy Inc. fonds. – 1897-2002, predominant 1949-2002. 5.2 m of textual records and other material. Administrative History: Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Westcoast Energy Inc. is a natural gas company with operations across North America and interests in international energy companies. Its main activities include natural gas gathering, processing, transmission, storage, distribution and marketing, as well as power generation and other energy services services. Its predecessor company, Westcoast Transmission Company Limited, was incorporated by a special act of Parliament in 1949. It was established by Frank McMahon, an oilman who had began Alberta company West Turner Petroleums in 1936 with his brothers George and John. After making a substantial oil strike in 1939, McMahon purchased two smaller companies and merged them with West Turner in 1947 to form a holding company called Pacific Petroleums. That year, the company was drilling in Leduc, Alberta and made a huge oil strike which ignited, creating a huge fire. The publicity received by the fire generated a lot of investor income for “Pacific Pete,” and McMahon used this money to form Westcoast Transmission Company Limited, a natural gas company. Westcoast Transmission received government approval to construct, at Taylor, B.C., a 1,046-kilometre, 30-inch mainline natural pipeline, the first “big inch” pipeline in Canada, and the first natural gas processing plant in British Columbia. Construction on the pipeline began in 1955, and when completed in 1957, natural gas flowed at a rate of 400 million cubic feet per day, from Northeast British Columbia to the Canada-U.S. border. This was the beginning of the development of the natural gas industry in British Columbia. In the 1960s, the demand for natural gas grew, and Westcoast began construction of a second gas processing plant at Fort Nelson, as well as a 402-kilometre mainline expansion and gas gathering system extending into Northern British Columbia, Alberta, the Yukon, and Northwest Territories. By 2000, the company, called Westcoast Energy Inc. since 1988, had a gathering, processing and transmission system consisting of 5,600 kilometres of pipeline and five gas processing plants, including plants at Pine River, Boundary Lake and Saratoga, and three sulphur recovery plants. In 1968, subsidiary company Pacific Northern Gas began to bring gas to West- central B.C and some West Coast communities. In 1974, Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd., in which Westcoast Transmission had a 50% interest, was founded for the purpose of constructing and operating the Canadian portion of the Alaska Natural Gas Transporation System; the project was completed in 1981. In the late 1980s, plans were made to bring natural gas over to Vancouver Island from the mainland. Pacific Coast Energy, a subsidiary company in which Westcoast had 50% interest, assumed responsibility for the construction of the 550-kilometre pipeline, which included the fourth deepest underwater pipeline in the world. The pipeline began operations in 1991. In 1990, Westcoast Energy acquired Centra Gas Inc. (formerly Inter-City Gas Utilities), which had markets on Vancouver Island, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario. When Westcoast Energy acquired Pacific Coast Energy Corporation in full in 1995, it merged the company with existing operations on Vancouver Island, forming Centra Gas Vancouver Island. In 1992, the company had acquired Union Energy Inc. and its subsidiary companies, including Union Gas Limited, which had a clientele of 650,000 in South-western Ontario; this acquisition 3 made Westcoast Energy Inc. the largest natural gas distributor in Canada. In 1998, Union Gas and Centra Gas Ontario were joined under the Union Gas name. In the 1990s Westcoast Energy expanded its interests to include companies specializing in gas-related services and other types of energy production. It formed Westcoast Power, a developer, builder, and operator of electrical power and cogeneration facilities, in 1991. 1993 saw the creation of Westcoast Gas Services, a gas marketing company created through a merger of subsidiary companies Unigas and Canadian Hydrocarbons Marketing, and NGX Canada (Natural Gas Exchange), a company establishing electronic gas trading centres in Canada and at points along the Canada-U.S. border. Westcoast Energy sold NGX Canada in 2000. NrG Information Services was formed in 1994, from a merger of Westcoast Energy with three other large pipeline companies, to assist with electronic commerce transactions between natural gas companies. In 1997, Westcoast Energy established Westcoast Capital Corporation, an energy sector investment company, as well as a retail energy services business through its subsidiary Union Energy. Westcoast Energy also joined with The Coastal Corporation of Houston, Texas to form Engage Energy, which became North America’s fourth largest marketer of natural gas and electricity. In 2000, Westcoast Energy left the partnership, retaining control of Engage Energy Canada. Another information services company, Enlogix Inc. was established by Westcoast Energy in 1998. In the late 1990s, Westcoast Energy was still involved in several major pipeline construction projects in North America. The company completed construction of a 568- km section of the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline in 1999, bringing gas to customers in the Maritimes and the North-eastern United States. The following year, construction was completed on two pipelines in which Westcoast Energy had an interest: the Alliance Pipeline, from Western Canada to Chicago, and the Vector Pipeline, from Chicago to New York City. Westcoast Energy also owns 100% of the 251-kilometre Empire State Pipeline, which transports natural gas from Niagara Falls to upper New York State. A west-to-east corridor for Western Canadian natural gas will be established with the addition of the Millennium West Pipeline (100% Westcoast Energy interest) and the Millennium Pipeline (21% Westcoast Energy interest), which will connect to bring gas from Ontario to New York City and the eastern United States. Westcoast Energy has also recently expanded its business interests beyond North America; Westcoast Energy International is involved in projects around the world, which have included interests in Australia, Indonesia, China, Australia, and Mexico. In March 2002, Westcoast Energy Inc. was acquired for $8 billion by the U.S. company Duke Energy. 4 Scope and content: Fonds consists of records created or accumulated by Westcoast Energy Inc., its predecessor company Westcoast Transmission Company, Limited, and their subsidiary companies. Records relate to the activities of these companies and the gas and energy industry in British Columbia and North America, and have been arranged into the following eleven series: Legal and financial records (1950-1996); Record books (1949-1980); Subject files (1949-2000); Corporate publications (1950-2002); Publications relating to Westcoast Energy Inc. and its subsidiary companies (1957-2002); Books, articles, and other publications relating to the energy industry in British Columbia and North America (1897-1996); Executive speeches and addresses (1957- 1997); Video recordings (1978-1995); Scrapbook (1957); Photographs and slides ([195-]- 1994); and Maps and Plans (1945-1994). Source of title: Title based on contents of fonds. Physical description note: Includes ca. 2870 photographs, 270 slides, 67 maps and plans, 3 record books, 1 scrapbook, 3 books, 7 videotapes and 2 audio reels. Restrictions: No restrictions on access. Acquisition information: Records in this fonds acquired from Duke Energy in 2003. Accruals: Further accruals are expected. 5 SERIES DESCRIPTIONS Legal and financial records. -- 1950-1996. 1.10 m of textual records. Series consists of legal and financial records of Westcoast Energy Inc., its predecessor company Westcoast Transmission Company Limited, and its subsidiary companies. Series has been arranged into two sub-series: Legal and financial records: Westcoast Energy Inc., and Legal and financial records: Subsidiary companies. Title based on contents of series. Legal and financial records: Westcoast Energy Inc. -- 1950-2001. 89.5 cm of textual records. Sub-series consists of legal and financial records of Westcoast Energy Inc. and its predecessor company, Westcoast Transmission Company Limited. Includes trust indentures, proxy statements, prospectuses, offers to shareholders, documents pertaining to National Energy Board applications, and Securities & Exchange Commission forms. Title based on contents of sub-series. Legal and financial records: Subsidiary companies. -- 1960-1996. 20.5 cm of textual records. Sub-series consists of legal and financial records of subsidiary companies of Westcoast Energy Inc. and its predecessor company, including Centra Gas Ontario Ltd., Gas Trunk Line of British Columbia, Ltd., ICG-Greater Winnipeg Gas Company, Pacific Northern Gas Co. Ltd., Union Gas Ltd., Union Gas-Centra Gas Ontario Inc., Westcoast Petroleum Ltd., and Westcoast Production Co. Ltd. Records include memoranda of association, agreements, trust indentures, prospectuses, notices and offers to shareholders, as well as some documents regarding Westcoast’s interests in these companies. Title based on contents of sub-series. Record books. -- 1949-1980. 3 record books. Series consists of company record books, including Westcoast Transmission Company Ltd. minute books and related documents (1949-1960), and a log book and a guest book of the