Blackstone Infrastructure buying PNGTS gas pipeline serving New England

Blackstone Infrastructure is buying the Portland Natural Gas Transmission System from investment funds managed by Global Infrastructure Partners, roughly two years after GIP completed its purchase of the PNGTS system that brings gas into New England.

Financial terms of Blackstone's planned purchase were not provided.

PNGTS is a 296-mile interstate pipeline that serves New England and Canada. The gas comes from Canada and through connections with other pipelines, including the Maritimes & Northeast and Tennessee Gas pipelines in the US and the Trans Quebec & Maritimes pipeline in Canada. With rates overseen by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, PNGTS has a capacity of about 460,000 dekatherms/day.

PNGTS extends from the Canadian border to pipeline and utility connections in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts, with 107 miles of facilities jointly owned by PNGTS and Maritimes & Northeast. The shared facilities span from Westbrook, Maine, to Dracut, Massachusetts, where there is a connection with the Tennessee Gas pipeline at PNGTS' southern endpoint.

"PNGTS is a vital part of New England and Atlantic Canada's energy infrastructure," Matt Runkle, head of power and midstream for Blackstone, said in a news release. "We're focused on supporting the PNGTS team over the long term as they continue to deliver the same safe, reliable service customers depend on today."

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027.

Blackstone said the purchase agreement was reached with investment funds managed by GIP, part of BlackRock and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners.

Announcement of the Blackstone deal comes a little more than two years after those investment funds paid TC Energy Corp. and a subsidiary of Energir LP $1.14 billion for PNGTS. The purchase price included $250 million in outstanding senior notes held at PNGTS.

Natural gas pipeline capacity into New England has been constrained during periods of high gas demand in winter. Other pipelines serving New England have announced plans for expansions recently; Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC filed an application with FERC for a 73,500-Dth/day expansion and sought approval to start service by Nov. 1, 2028.

Algonquin, a subsidiary of Enbridge Inc., highlighted an Oct. 1 letter from Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey to US Energy Secretary Chris Wright urging quick advancement of the project to add pipeline capacity into New England.

Millennium Pipeline in October launched a binding open season for a project to add up to 60,000 Dth/day into an interconnect with Algonquin that could boost gas supplies into New England. The Ramapo Enhancement Project would add capacity on the Millennium system from its interconnect with the Stagecoach pipeline and storage system in Tioga County, New York, to its interconnect with Algonquin in Rockland County, New York, Millennium said in its open season announcement.