AltaGas is a North American energy infrastructure company based in
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
. It links natural gas liquids (NGLs) and natural gas to both Canadian and global markets.
The company operates in four business segments: utilities, midstream, power and corporate.
History
AltaGas began operations in
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
in 1994 in the
natural gas business, with the goal of building a western Canadian
midstream
The petroleum industry, oil and gas industry is usually divided into three major components: upstream (petroleum industry), upstream, midstream and downstream (petroleum industry), downstream. The midstream sector involves the transportation (by Oi ...
business. The company later began its utility segment in 1998 in Alberta, and entered the power business in 2001.
In 2017, AltaGas agreed to purchase
WGL Holdings
WGL Holdings, Inc., is a public utility holding company that serves more than 1 million customers in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. A subsidiary of AltaGas, it provides natural gas, electricity, sustainable energy, carbon neutra ...
, significantly expanding its presence in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
.
Operations
Utilities
AltaGas operates regulated utilities that store and deliver natural gas to end‑users across North America. The utility businesses serve approximately 1.8 million customers. The company operates as
Washington Gas
WGL Holdings, Inc., is a public utility holding company that serves more than 1 million customers in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. A subsidiary of AltaGas, it provides natural gas, electricity, sustainable energy, carbon neutra ...
in the
Washington metropolitan area
The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virg ...
, SEMCO Energy Gas Company in
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
, ENSTAR Natural Gas Company in
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...
, and
Heritage Gas
Heritage Gas Limited is a company based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia that provides natural gas distribution.
The company receives gas from the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline system and is regulated under the Utility and Review Board of Nova Scotia. ...
in
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native En ...
.
Midstream
The Midstream segment serves customers primarily in the
Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin
The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) underlies of Western Canada including southwestern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan, Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories. This vast sedimentary ...
and transacts more than per day of natural gas. It transfers gas to its customers from wellhead to tidewater and beyond.
The Midstream segment expanded its customer base in 2011 after its purchase of Pacific Northern Gas Ltd for $146.1 million.
The acquisition was part of the move to capitalize on increased exploration activity in western Canada.
The division serves many purposes including natural gas gathering and
processing
Processing is a free graphical library and integrated development environment (IDE) built for the electronic arts, new media art, and visual design communities with the purpose of teaching non-programmers the fundamentals of computer programming ...
,
natural gas liquids
Natural-gas condensate, also called natural gas liquids, is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many natural gas fields. Some gas species within the raw natur ...
extraction and separation, transmission pipelines delivery for both gas and liquids, storage and marketing. As part of its Midstream expansion strategy, AltaGas concluded a deal with Birchcliff Energy for a long-term natural gas processing arrangement in 2018. It also entered into a joint venture with a privately held producer in the Montney shale play to construct a deep-cut natural gas processing facility.
References
{{Reflist
Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange
Energy companies established in 1994
Companies based in Calgary
Energy companies of Canada
Natural gas companies of Canada