Toronto, Ontario, Oct 04, 2001 -- Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (Maritimes) received a strong response to its open season to accept nominations for natural gas transportation services for the proposed Phase IV expansion of the pipeline.
Local distribution companies, natural gas-fired electric generators and third-party marketers were among those submitting substantial requests for transportation services, indicating a sizable market for natural gas reserves from eastern Canada. Nominations of more than 1.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) were received for transportation service on Maritimes' Canadian facilities, while nominations of almost 1.3 bcf/d were received for transportation service in the United States.
The Canadian nominations requested deliveries along the mainline and laterals to Point Tupper, Halifax and Saint John. The U.S. nominations requested deliveries of substantial volumes into Algonquin Gas Transmission Company's proposed HubLine interconnection in Beverly, Mass. The majority of the nominations seek services beginning in the 2004 to 2006 time frame.
"The significant response to the Phase IV open season emphasizes the market's desire for more natural gas," said Tom O'Connor, president of M&N Management Company, the managing member of Maritimes. "We will help meet this growing demand by expanding our system efficiently and economically. We will deliver new supplies of gas that will further ensure energy reliability and security in Atlantic Canada and the northeastern United States."
"The Maritimes system was designed and constructed to accommodate the anticipated development of new natural gas fields," said Philip Knoll, president of Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, L.P. "Given our ability to quickly and cost-effectively expand the system primarily through compression, we can be ready to deliver new supplies as early as 2004."
Earlier this year, Maritimes and PanCanadian Petroleum signed agreements to transport up to 400 million cubic feet per day of natural gas from PanCanadian's Deep Panuke project, offshore Nova Scotia. To transport the PanCanadian volumes, Maritimes will invest approximately US $380 million (Cdn $590 million) to expand its capacity to approximately 1 bcf/d, nearly doubling the existing system capacity. Maritimes will now work with the responding parties to determine the need for additional facilities within the Phase IV expansion. Maritimes expects to file applications with government agencies in both the United States and Canada later this year.
Maritimes is owned by affiliates of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK chart, msgs) (37.5 percent); Westcoast Energy, Inc. (37.5 percent); ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM chart, msgs) (12.5 percent); and Emera Inc. (12.5 percent). Maritimes has headquarters in Boston, Mass., and Halifax, Nova Scotia. |
