Canada’s National Energy Board released fresh evidence that the turning point in conventional western Canadian supplies has arrived. Despite strong prices and spare capacity on the TransCanada system, the board’s monitoring system has registered the third straight monthly decline in deliveries to the United States.

Exports, which represent about 60% of Canadian production, slipped by 8% in March to 301 Bcf compared to 328 Bcf in the same month of 2002. Shipments to the United States were off by 6% in January at 312 Bcf and were down by 7% in February at 291 Bcf.

Canadian gas fetched an average US$7.64/MMBtu at the international boundary in March, up 204% compared to the US$2.51 received for the higher volumes during the same month a year earlier. March Canadian gas deliveries to California fell by 39% to 29.4 Bcf.

Shipments to the Midwest held their ground, shrinking by only 0.4% to 135.5 Bcf. March exports to the Northeast rose by 4.8% to 99.5 Bcf, but deliveries to the Pacific Northwest fell by 23% to 36.4 Bcf.

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