Chesapeake Utilities Corp. announced plans to extend its gas distribution system southward into Sussex County, DE, from the town of Milford to Milton in early 2006. “The expansion will allow us to provide natural gas as an energy choice to planned residential developments, as well as nearby residential, commercial and industrial customers who will benefit from another fuel option,” said Stephen C. Thompson, senior vice president for the utility. Chesapeake’s Delaware and Maryland natural gas distribution systems serve more than 42,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in the southern portion of New Castle County, Kent County and parts of Sussex County in Delaware, as well as parts of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Thompson added that Chesapeake’s expansion supports Delaware’s recently-adopted energy policy, which calls for enhancing the availability of natural gas in areas that don’t have it as a fuel option today.

Canada’s National Energy Board said it will hold a written public hearing on an application by Westcoast Energy, a Duke Energy subsidiary, for approval of certain firm transportation service enhancements in Zone 3 (Mainline Transportation North) and Zone 4 (Mainline Transportation South). The deadline for filing written interventions is Aug. 5. Westcoast stated in its application that in the past few years increasing amounts of firm service have not been recontracted in Zones 3 and 4, and it believes that the implementation of certain service enhancements will increase the value of firm transportation to both existing and potential shippers and encourage higher levels of contracting.

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