Spectra Energy provides natural gas to customers across North America.

Premier Business Partners:

Macro Industries

More than 17,500 miles of pipeline make Spectra Energy a key supplier of natural gas in North America. The Houston-based company transports and processes natural gas from Texas and north along the East Coast and into Canada.

U.S. operations began in 1929 as Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co. In 1996, the company renamed itself PanEnergy Corp. A year later PanEnergy Corp. merged with Duke Power to form Duke Energy Corp.

Canadian Operations started in 1911 as Union Natural Gas Co. In 1992, Westcoast Energy acquired Union Natural Gas Co. A decade later, Duke Energy acquired Westcoast Energy, creating joint U.S. and Canadian operations. In 2006, Duke Energy created a subsidiary called Spectra Energy.

Spectra considers its areas of expertise to be distribution, processing, storage and transmission of natural gas.

Customers include local distributors, traders, natural gas producers, gas-fired electric generators and residential and commercial users. Regional offices are located in Alberta, British Columbia, Colorado, Massachusetts, Ontario and Nova Scotia.

Lengthy Process
Once Spectra cultivates natural gas, it  begins to process it. To transport gas from its natural source to the stovetops and furnaces of customers, Spectra assembles a reliable network of pipelines to areas of high demand.

Distribution is similar to transmission, but on a smaller scale. Most of the gas distributed to commercial and residential customers is transported by lower pressure through smaller pipelines across shorter distances. Spectra energy supplies approximately 1.25 million residential, commercial and industrial customers in Ontario.

To store natural gas for future consumption, Spectra relies on depleted reservoirs, salt caverns and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Reservoirs that once served as naturally occurring sources can be used as storage areas for future cultivation. To achieve this, gas is injected into porous underground rock. The gas is later withdrawn in 12 or 24 months.

“We own the storage field near the town of Accident, Md., and partially own the Pennsylvania fields near Oakford and Leidy,” Spectra says.

“The proximity of these storage fields to our shippers provides a great deal of flexibility.”
 Spectra owns Egan salt cavern storage facilities in Acadia Parish, La., and Liberty County, Texas. Another storage method involves liquefying the resource, and Spectra has LNG facilities in Tennessee and Ontario.

Extensive Portfolio
Spectra’s clients are served by four different businesses: U.S. Gas Transmission, Western Canada Transmission and Processing, Union Gas and DCP Midstream. The U.S. transmission network uses 12,800 miles of pipeline and 115 billion cubic feet of storage.

The Canadian business includes the BC pipeline, BC field services, midstream and natural gas liquids.

The British Columbian pipeline is around 1,600 miles long, encompassing 19 compressor stations and four intersecting pipelines. Spectra uses five facilities to gather raw gas from natural sources in the Yukon Territory, Alberta and British Columbia.