Westcoast Energy announced an open season for about 175 MMcf/d of additional firm transportation service on its Fort Nelson mainline facilities in northern British Columbia. It is accepting requests from the following receipt points: Fort Nelson Plant, Buckinghorse Plant, Caribou Plant, Jedney #1 Plant , Jedney #2 Plant, Sikanni Plant and Cypress Plant to Compressor Station No. 2 (“Zone 3”). The additional capacity would be made available through an expansion of the line, consisting largely of pipeline looping. The in-service date of the proposed expansion is expected to be April 2002.

The open season, Westcoast said, is in response to strong production growth in the area around the Fort Nelson mainline and recent requests for transportation service. In order to achieve an April 2002 in-service date, the scope of the proposed expansion will be limited to 175 MMcf/d.

In conjunction with the open season, Westcoast also is allowing shippers holding existing Zone 3 firm service in the Fort Nelson mainline corridor to relinquish that service effective April 2002. Any relinquished service would be allocated to prospective shippers requesting Zone 3 expansion service in the open season.

Westcoast also said it is currently examining the need for and feasibility of further expansions of its northern mainline facilities (e.g. the Fort Nelson mainline, Fort St. John mainline and the Aitken Creek lateral), for an in-service date of November 2003. It anticipates holding an additional open season for expansion service on these mainline facilities early in the fourth quarter of this year.

Parties interested in expansion service must submit bids to Ernst and Young via e-mail (jim.m.wilkins@ca.eyi.com) prior to noon MDT on Aug. 2. Open season procedures and request for service forms are available at www.wei-pipeline.com.

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