On June 7, 2006, TransCanada held our first fully aligned open season for customers interested in acquiring capacity from the NIT Hub in Alberta to Eastern Canada along the TransCanada Canadian Mainline. Up to 2.1 Bcf of capacity was offered to customers for full path contracting. Customers had the ability to condition Alberta Firm Transportation – Delivery (FT-D) requests upon obtaining matching Mainline capacity.
Over the past few years, TransCanada has moved our services and tariffs in the same direction to offer full path open seasons for firm service on our pipelines. TransCanada will begin coordinating full path open seasons along all of our downstream paths with our pipeline partners as determined by available capacity and customer interest.
All of TransCanada’s open seasons can be accessed via the Customer Express website under the Capacity for Sale section. An overview of the capacity on the Alberta and Mainline Systems can be seen below.
TransCanada has been working diligently since 2004 to create aligned services and open season processes to provide customers with the opportunity to obtain full path contracts. Some of the key milestones for TransCanada are noted below:
2004
Integrated the Foothills pipeline into our GT West operations
Worked with customers to develop an STFT service on the Foothills System to match contract terms with contracts held on Northern Border
Developed the Customer Express website to provide customers easy access to the commercial information they needed (including available capacity and open seasons)
Aligned and clarified TransCanada’s credit policies on the Alberta, BC and Mainline Systems
TransCanada became operator of the Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS)
2005
Worked with customers to evolve the Alberta FT-D contracting process from a Queue process to open seasons
Worked with customers to revise the existing Alberta STFT and FT-DW services so that these services could better fit with downstream pipelines and customer requirements
Worked with customers to develop the FT-RAM pilot on our Mainline to provide customers additional flexibility to manage their FT contract utilization
Launched the Toll Calculator, a planning tool allowing for easy analysis and understanding of transportation cost options on TransCanada’s wholly-owned and affiliated systems
Acquired and integrated the GTN pipeline
2006 and Beyond
Worked with customers to structure the BC System's STFS-1 service more appropriately. This resulted in alignment of pricing and other attributes of STFS-1 with the short-term firm offerings on TransCanada's other pipelines operating in and out of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB).
TransCanada implemented the conversion of contracts to energy units on the BC and Foothills Systems effective June 1, 2006. This will align with Alberta System FT-D contracts which will be converted to energy units effective November 1, 2006, and other downstream connecting pipelines.
