Canada Permits TC Energy to Keep Insurers Secret From Pipeline Activists

TC Energy Corp. is the latest Canadian pipeline company allowed to keep its insurers confidential as activist groups push firms to drop business with the fossil fuels industry.

The Canada Energy Regulator ruled that the names of TC Energy’s insurers are “commercial information” and the midstream company has met the requirement of “consistently treating” this information as confidential, according to a ruling on the agency’s website.

Pressure from environmental groups has prompted some major insurance companies to halt support for energy projects. Zurich Insurance Group AG last year dropped its coverage of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which carries crude from the Canadian oil sands to the country’s Pacific Coast. In April, the pipeline’s operator received permission for insurer secrecy.

TC Energy requested permission to keep insurers confidential in May as part of its annual reporting requirements for its gas pipeline network. The company didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.

Photo: Machinery along a right of way for the Keystone XL pipeline near Oyen, Alberta, Canada, on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. U.S. President Joe Biden revoked the permit for TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL energy pipeline via executive order hours after his inauguration, the clearest sign yet that constructing a major new pipeline in the U.S. has become an impossible task. Photographer: Jason Franson/Bloomberg