Backgrounder: Competition Bureau challenges Keyera’s proposed acquisition at a critical Canadian energy hub

Backgrounder: Competition Bureau challenges Keyera’s proposed acquisition at a critical Canadian energy hubMay 4, 2026

The Competition Bureau has applied to the Competition Tribunal to challenge Keyera Corp.’s proposed acquisition of Plains All American Pipeline L.P.’s (Plains) Canadian natural gas liquids (NGL) business.

Natural gas liquids processing, which includes fractionation and storage, is a critical part of Canada’s energy economy, supplying products used to heat homes, support agriculture, and manufacture petrochemicals, while enabling Canadian producers to participate in domestic and international markets.

Following an extensive investigation, the Bureau concluded that the proposed transaction is likely to harm competition in natural gas liquids processing at Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada’s primary hub for these services, which Canadian producers rely on to bring product to market.

This backgrounder provides additional context on the natural gas liquids industry in Canada, explains the Bureau’s concerns related to the proposed transaction, outlines the remedies sought in the application, and describes the next steps in the process.

The role of natural gas liquids in the Canadian economy

Natural gas liquids are byproducts of natural gas production. Before producers can transport and sell natural gas, they must separate NGLs from the gas stream. Producers typically need fractionation services to convert NGLs into specification products such as propane, butane, and condensate.

For producers, access to competitive and reliably priced NGL processing services is critical to efficiently bring production to market.

Producers bring natural gas liquids to market by relying on a network of interconnected infrastructure. This network typically includes: