Canada

Natural gas propelled Alberta, Canada’s chief gas producing province, to a record government budget surplus of C$8.7 billion (US$7.8 billion) in the 2005-06 fiscal year that ended March 31.

The four-month-old Conservative government in Canada sees the long-awaited time for arctic gas to flow as arriving, according to Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Jim Prentice, a close associate of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The cold spell currently enveloping Canada and most of the U.S. again propelled the spot market higher Thursday, but the advances were considerably smaller than the previous day’s spikes and were interspersed with flat to moderately lower numbers at a few points in the Gulf Coast and Midcontinent.

Canada’s National Energy Board approved several rate changes on Duke Energy Gas Transmission, Westcoast Energy pipeline system in British Columbia. The changes include firm transportation service enhancements in Zone 3 (Mainline Transportation North) and Zone 4 (Mainline Transportation South) that will include term-differentiated firm service tolls, authorized overrun service and daily cross-corridor crediting in Zone 3.

Canada’s fledgling coalbed methane production is rapidly maturing into an industry force, with a new forecast by the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board projecting 25-fold growth over the next 10 years.

Rising temperatures throughout most of the U.S. and Eastern Canada combined with the residual support of natural gas futures that extended gains into a fifth straight day to produce large cash upticks across the board Monday. The continuing erosion of this year’s storage surplus, as evidenced in a below-expectations injection report last Thursday that is quite likely to be repeated this week, may also have contributed to the overall bullish mood.

Enron Corp. said Thursday that it will receive $25 million from the The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) through a settlement agreement covering RBC’s portion of what it called the “MegaClaims” litigation against the major banks for allegedly aiding and abetting the company in breaches of fiduciary duties, fraud and civil conspiracy.

Competitive wholesale power markets in the eastern U.S. and Canada produced at least $15.1 billion in customer savings during 1999-2003 and resulted in dramatically improved power plant efficiencies nationwide, according to a study released last Tuesday by Global Energy Decisions Inc.

General Electric on Monday announced that it and Canada’s largest institutional investor, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, have agreed to buy the Southern Star Central natural gas pipeline system from AIG Highstar Capital for an estimated $362 million, plus the assumption of $476 million in debt and preferred stock.