Piling

With PanCanadian’s Deep Panuke prospect lined up on the supply end and new gas fired generation piling up in New England on the demand side, Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline said last week it is ready to move forward with its plans for a major expansion. The company expects to increase the capacity of its system to 1 Bcf/d and is holding an open season for its Phase IV expansion through Sept. 21.

Canadian exporters got off to a spectacular start, piling up a 253% increase in revenues from sales to the United States during the first quarter of the current natural gas contract year. In Canadian dollars, the value of gas exports shot up to $11.6 billion during the three months that ended Jan. 31 compared to $3.28 billion in the same period of 1999-2000, according to records kept by the National Energy Board.

Canadian exporters got off to a spectacular start, piling up a 253% increase in revenues from sales to the United States during the first quarter of the current natural gas contract year. In Canadian dollars, the value of gas exports shot up to $11.6 billion during the three months that ended Jan. 31 compared to $3.28 billion in the same period of 1999-2000, according to records kept by the National Energy Board.

Producers are eating a bigger slice of the revenue pie,pipelines claim. Pipelines, however, are piling up a much greaterreturn for a much smaller investment, producers retort. And that’sjust the beginning of the arguments spawned by FERC’s probing thepossibility of lighter-handed regulation of pipelines, includingnegotiated terms and conditions.