NAGF Live: North American Gas Demand with Tina Faraca, Alix Steel
In this special live edition of the Energy Perspectives Podcast, recorded on stage at the 2025 North American Gas Forum in Washington, D.C., Tina Faraca, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Natural Gas Pipelines, at TC Energy, joins Alix Steel, Principal at DrivePath Advisors, to discuss the outlook for natural gas demand across North America.
TC Energy transports roughly 30% of North America's natural gas every day across infrastructure spanning Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. Tina outlines the company's forecast of 45 BCF per day of incremental demand by 2035, the brownfield expansion strategies TC Energy is using to meet near-term growth, and the permitting reforms that will determine whether new pipeline systems get built.
Key Themes:
* The case for natural gas as an essential fuel and an additive approach to energy systems
* Permitting reform across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, including the National Petroleum Council's new framework
* LNG export growth across all three North American coasts
* Brownfield pipeline expansion: compression, looping, and corridor development
Chapters
00:00 Intro from the 2025 North American Gas Forum in Washington
00:23 TC Energy's continent-wide footprint: Canada, U.S., Mexico
01:32 Where permitting stands: signals from Bill C-5, FERC, NEPA, and Plan Mexico
03:17 The hardest part of the job: navigating permitting uncertainty
04:13 News from the floor: TC Energy's National Petroleum Council report on permitting reform
05:39 More optimistic than four years ago: pragmatism and bipartisan recognition of natural gas
06:08 Demand outlook: 45 Bcf/d of incremental demand across North America by 2035
08:44 Utilities vs. behind-the-meter: how TC Energy is serving data center demand
09:33 Natural gas as essential, not transition
10:11 Affordability and the real risk: underbuilding, not overbuilding
11:46 Power generation vs. LNG exports: which demand pull leads
12:11 What's driving the optimism
12:56 Navigating three regulatory frameworks across three countries
14:07 Federal permitting reform and the state-level question
14:39 Brownfield expansion now, greenfield pipelines next
16:01 Don't be complacent: a time-bound window for permitting reform
16:59 Closing thoughts
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