CanWest Gas Supply Inc., an old-line natural gas aggregators inBritish Columbia — and also the largest — has agreed to allowAtlanta’s Southern Company Energy Marketing to manage its business.

Under the agreement, Southern will market the aggregate’soperations, which are owned by 38 Western Canada natural gasproducers. CanWest was buying about 430 MMcf/d of natural gas from100 natural gas producers. The CanWest agreement will add about 500MMcf/d of natural gas to Southern’s marketing operations, which hadtotaled 8.2 Bcf/d before the announcement yesterday.

The agreement doesn’t just strengthen Southern’s natural gasmarketing base; it also strengthens its grip in Canada. Earlier thisyear, the company set up a similar agreement with Pan-Alberta GasLtd., the second-largest Canadian gas exporter (see Daily GPI, Jan. 27). As part of the deal, Southernassumed Pan-Alberta’s office in Calgary and integrated its businesseswith trading and marketing operations. The Calgary office is nowstaffed with former Pan-Alberta employees.

“This agreement is similar to the arrangement we made withPan-Alberta,” said Southern spokesman James Peters. “It isstructured the same, and had few changes.” Peters said that abouteight of 30 CanWest employees will remain with the company, andwill work in the Calgary office.

Southern Company Energy Marketing is owned jointly by SouthernEnergy Inc. and Vastar Resources Inc., and the subsidiary providesenergy marketing, risk management and financial services and otherenergy-related commodities, products and services to North Americancustomers.

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