Update - September 2001 - printable version

In our July issue of Update, we discussed our new wireless service, TransCanada Freedom. At that time, we were testing TransCanada Freedom with a pilot group of customers to ensure we were providing the best possible service for all our customers.

We were very encouraged by the overwhelming requests from customers to participate. Since the initial testing period, no significant problems were identified with TransCanada Freedom. TransCanada will now provide this service to all customers. Thank you to all companies who have participated in the testing process.

"TransCanada Freedom is making things very convenient for me, especially during the weekends. I can't imagine being on call without it. Haven't had any troubles either." Says Paramount.

"TransCanada has raised the bar for pipeline customer service. It is now even easier to do business with TransCanada." Says another customer.

"Even when I'm at 3105m above sea level on the side of Mt. Fay in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, standing in my crampons on the top of a long, steep pitch of ice, with the wind blowing 80 km/h, and the freezing rain blowing sideways as my fingers and toes slowly freeze, I can be relaxed because TransCanada Freedom lets me know that customer accounts are in balance and that the pipeline is running smoothly!" Says Stewart Midwinter of TransCanada. Several enhancements have been made to TransCanada Freedom since the initial trial period. We have improved the infrastructure used for the device to ensure reliability and quality of the data provided. In addition, we have also upgraded the wireless supply and demand module to include more detailed required trend information.

Also during this time, Telus has expanded their coverage into B.C areas such as Golden, Radium Hot Springs, Invermere, Canal Flats, and Fernie, as well as Ottawa and several other areas outside Western Canada. With the expansion of the Telus Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) network, feedback from the test group, as well as the assurance of the I-Paq's stability and TransCanada Freedom's reliability, we are now excited to broaden the availability of TransCanada Freedom to all of our customers.

Signing up for TransCanada Freedom is easy---all you need is a valid NrG user ID with a device, modem, network, and wireless address. The recommended combination for TransCanada Freedom is as follows:

To help you get set up, we are excited to announce the launch of our new website. The purpose of this website is to assist and educate new and potential users on TransCanada Freedom. It contains a user manual that can be downloaded as well as some good tips and tricks we have learned over the past few months to assist customers in getting the most out of TransCanada Freedom.

A general note for our Toronto customers. The content for Phase 1 of TransCanada Freedom focused on Western shippers due to the Eastern wireless digital carrier infrastructure. Later on 2001, this infrastructure will be developed and TransCanada Freedom will be further expanded.

TransCanada is dedicated to continuous process improvement and we want to continue to be one of the easiest pipelines to do business with. For more information on TransCanada Freedom or to provide us with comments or suggestions for improvements with future phases, please contact Sean Meilleur at (403) 920-5825 or e-mail sean_meilleur@transcanada.com.

Northwinds Pipeline project -
A seamless transportation path . . . to the future

TransCanada PipeLines Limited and National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation have formed a strategic partnership to develop Northwinds Pipeline, a newly proposed natural gas pipeline project designed to bring new natural gas supplies to one of the fastest growing markets on the continent. This 215-mile (346 kilometre), 30-inch natural gas pipeline will originate in Kirkwall, Ontario, cross into the United States near Buffalo, New York, and follow a southerly route to its destination in the Ellisburg / Leidy area in Pennsylvania. The initial capacity of the pipeline will be approximately 500 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and the preliminary cost of the pipeline is estimated to be between US$350 to 400 million. Northwinds Map available online.

Construction of the Northwinds Pipeline is estimated to take approximately 16 to 20 months. The targeted in-service date for this pipeline is late 2004, but will be more precisely determined once the necessary applications are submitted to the United States and Canadian regulatory authorities as well as the review and approval processes are underway.

The U.S. Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions are the most dynamic and have one of the highest requirements for natural gas in North America - primarily due to the growing demand for electricity. The market demand is growing and supply is not keeping pace. Northwinds will bridge the gap between the robust supply available at Dawn and the immense and growing market downstream of the Ellisburg / Leidy area. Over 3.5 billion cubic feet per day of pipeline capacity and over 870 billion cubic feet of storage capacity feeds the Dawn Hub. Northwinds will provide incremental supply to both existing pipelines and proposed expansions east of the Ellisburg / Leidy area.

"Northwinds Pipeline is tailored to meet the needs of the mid-Atlantic and New England markets, which are among the fastest growing markets on the continent," said Hal Kvisle, TransCanada's Chief Executive Officer. "This project will strongly enhance TransCanada's existing and proposed natural gas transportation systems, from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, to eastern Canada, and to the northeastern United States."

In order to address concerns communities, landowners and other general interest groups generally have with any pipeline expansion, Northwinds is proposed to follow existing industrial, utility, railway, and pipeline right-of-way to the greatest extent possible in an effort to mitigate effects of the construction activity. Northwinds also utilizes a short underground tunnel beneath the mouth of the Niagara River to minimize environmental impact.

"The Northwinds Pipeline is uniquely positioned to be a part of a solution for long term energy security by building upon existing energy infrastructures and bringing new, low cost natural gas supplies to growing markets on the East Coast. National Fuel's participation in this project is a strategic and logical fit. Our existing systems are located at the Canada/United States border and provide the path for new gas supplies to reach markets in western New York, northwestern Pennsylvania and beyond," said Bernard J. Kennedy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, National Fuel.

For more information on the Northwinds Pipeline project, please contact Les Cherwenuk at (403) 920-2052, e-mail les_cherwenuk@transcanada.com, or Tim Stringer at (403) 920-5806, e-mail tim_stringer@transcanada.com.

TransCanada is in the process of expanding its western delivery system in Alberta and British Columbia (the West Path) by a total of 600 mmcf/d by late 2003. This expansion will be installed over the next two years in related but distinct projects, and is being undertaken in conjunction with corresponding expansions to the downstream pipeline, PG&E Gas Transmission, Northwest Corporation (GTN). It is driven primarily by increased demand for gas-fired electrical generation in the western U.S. and will provide additional firm transportation for growing gas markets in southern B.C. West Path Expansion Map available online.

Through the summer, TransCanada has been working closely with its B.C. System shippers to enact a change to the capacity allocation process for the 2003 expansion. This change allows the 2003 expansion shippers to obtain a contractual path, from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) to the market. TransCanada will continue to work with western shippers to finalize a longer-term allocation process for the future.

TransCanada is in the process of finalizing contracts with expansion shippers. These will increase year-round contracted capacity on the West Path to approximately 3.25 bcf/d.

This is the first major expansion to the West Path since 1993. Like the 1993 project, the 2002 and 2003 expansion will involve multiple jurisdictions and regulatory bodies, including the National Energy Board (NEB) and the Alberta Energy Utilities Board (EUB) in Canada as well as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the U.S. Each body has its own environmental, construction and tolling regulations and requirements. Communication between the pipeline proponents, expansion shippers, and other stakeholders will play an important role in navigating through this approval process.

TransCanada is preparing its 2002 applications for filing with the NEB and EUB by the end of this year.

For more information on the West Path expansion, please contact Scott Yule at (403) 920-5558, e-mail scott_yule@transcanada.com.

In the early 1990s, during project preparations for the 1993 expansion, TransCanada, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), GTN and Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd. jointly held a "get-together" at Heritage Park in Calgary. The tradition continues today with an annual gathering during the Calgary Stampede. This very successful event provides an opportunity for the pipelines to host shippers, government and regulatory participants at an event that recognizes the past success and future opportunity in southern B.C., California and Pacific Northwest markets, in true stampede fashion. (photos below).

This year's Stampede barbecue marked the 40th anniversary of the Alberta-California pipeline system. In fact, the first-ever deliveries through the West Path flowed from Rimbey in September 1961. Since that time, deliveries through the system have quadrupled in size, from about 600 mmcf/d initially to 2.65 bcf/d today. The West Path expansion will continue this growth through 2002 and 2003.

Steve has carried out many roles in TransCanada/NOVA Corp. Immediately prior to his new appointment, Steve was the Vice President of Western Business Development where he led pipeline business development activities in Western North America. He was also Vice President of Gathering and Processing (G&P) at TransCanada Midstream from 1998 to 2000, where he was responsible for the leadership and management of that team.

Prior to the TransCanada/NOVA merger, Steve was one of the founding members of Novagas Canada Ltd. (NCL), which was NOVA's entry into the Midstream business. Steve helped build the G&P organization from a startup operation. In this role, Steve was responsible for the identification, evaluation, and prosecution of opportunities in the natural gas midstream business. He specifically led the teams that developed, managed and exploited NCL's investments in Northern Alberta and Northeastern B.C. Steve also spent time in the chemical side of NOVA where he was Product Manager, Western Ethylene and Manager, Ethane Acquisition. The different roles with NOVA have provided Steve with the diverse knowledge of the industry needed in his new role at TransCanada.

Prior to his experience at TransCanada and NOVA, Steve worked in various Engineering based roles with companies such as Fluor Daniel Canada Inc., Stone and Webster Canada Ltd., Enhanced Recovery Systems Ltd., and Dynawest Projects Ltd.

With Steve's busy schedule, he still seems to find the time to volunteer. He is currently a board member of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) for South Central Alberta. As part of Steve's work with the CMHA, he co-produced "Calgary Cooks", a book that raised $140,000 for the CMHA. In addition, Steve is currently working with the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation. The foundation is raising $50 million that will be used to create a world-class centre of excellence in pediatric care.

In Steve's new role of Vice President of Gas Development/Director of Sales and Marketing, his mandate is to instill entrepreneurial spirit and attitude. He is now much closer to the day-to-day commercial activities of TransCanada and our customer base. "We are facing some exciting times moving forward with Sales and Marketing. I look forward to the challenges ahead and building on the relationships with our customers," says Steve.

For more information, please e-mail Steve directly at stephen_clark@transcanada.com or call (403) 920-2018.

Welcome John Van der Put, the new Director of Pipeline System Design, effective August 2, 2001. John brings over 18 years of industry experience to his new appointment, with 11 of those years at TransCanada PipeLines Limited/Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. John has gained experience in many different parts of the industry, making him a valuable part of the TransCanada family.

Immediately prior to this appointment, John completed a seven month assignment with TransCanada in commercial strategy. In late 1999, John took on the position of General Manager of Operations in Santiago, Chile for TransCanada International. John thoroughly enjoyed living abroad for a year and found his Chilean colleagues to be among the nicest and hardest working he'd ever had the privilege to lead and work with.

From mid-1997 to 1999, John was the Regional Director for Northeastern Alberta. Although John came into the position under difficult circumstances, the overall experience turned out to be quite successful and rewarding. One experience he'll never forget was staying up all night in the emergency operations centre monitoring the progress of a huge forest fire in the Slave Lake area as it came within yards of meter stations and a compressor station.

From 1994 to 1997, John was Director of Engineering Resources Planning & Development. In this role, John and his co-director helped to change NOVA's engineering organization from a collection of functionally focused teams to a more efficient team where all of the people resources were pooled together and deployed to projects on an as-needed basis.

In John's first four years at NOVA, he worked in the same area as his current appointment - System Design. John held a number of supervisory assignments in volume forecasting and facilities planning. He was also involved in the development of a new hydraulic simulation tool called HART, still being utilized today. One of his main accomplishments during this time was to work with industry to reduce the lead time required to provide new service to customers on the NOVA pipeline system from the original 27 months to as few as three months in some cases - making for a more customer-focused company.

John is very familiar with the issues facing TransCanada's producer customers. Prior to his time with TransCanada/NOVA, John worked for seven years at Exxon in California and Houston. During his time at Exxon, he took on three very significant assignments within the company: 1) Development of new oil and gas fields in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska; 2) Implementation of a new accounting system for the company's exploration and production functions; and 3) Development of computer tools for engineering applications, including the use of artificial intelligence systems.

In John's current role of Director, Pipeline System Design, his mandate is to ensure that TransCanada has the correct pipeline facilities to meet its service requirements for customers, both for today and in the future. His priority is to ensure we have the right people resources with the right tools at their disposal to continue to excel in that mandate. "My role is to provide leadership to the Pipeline System Design team making sure team members have appropriate opportunities for training, the information systems needed to carry out their jobs successfully, and to ensure that all employees are satisfied in their jobs," says John.

For more information, please e-mail John at john_vanderput@transcanada.com directly or call (403) 920-2023.

During the long weekend in September, it appears an imbalance between supply and demand caused spot gas prices to fall dramatically in the Alberta market place. In order to understand these unexpected changes, it is valuable to take a closer look at the sequence of events that occurred leading up to this period:

Date	Event
Friday, Aug 31	Alberta system linepack at 385 e6m3 and steady (target = 389 e6m3)
Saturday, Sep 1	Field receipts increase by approximately 8 e6m3/d from Aug 31 to Sep 1 (12 e6m3 from Aug 30 to Sep 1)
Saturday, Sep 1	At 08:00, Alberta system linepack is 391 e6m3/d and packing by ~6 e6m3/d
Saturday, Sep 1	Export nominations decrease by approximately 14 e6m3/d (273 e6m3/d to 259 e6m3/d)
Sunday, Sep 2	At 08:00, Alberta system linepack is 406 e6m3/d and packing by ~12 e6m3/d. Overpressure conditions present in Northwestern Alberta
Sunday, Sep 2	Effective 08:00, supply/demand tolerances changed to 0/-20 %/TJs from normal +10/-10 %/TJs levels
Monday, Sep 3	At 08:00, Alberta system linepack is 411 e6m3/d and packing by ~6 e6m3/d. Overpressure conditions continue in Northwestern Alberta
Monday, Sep 3	Effective 16:00, interruptible service restriction implemented upstream James River to address facility integrity (overpressure) concerns
Tuesday, Sep 4	At 08:00, Alberta system linepack is 404 e6m3/d and drafting. Tolerance change and IT restriction remain unchanged until system conditions return to acceptable operating limits
Wednesday, Sep 5	At 08:00, Alberta system linepack is 392 e6m3/d and steady. System conditions returned to within acceptable operating limits
Wednesday, Sep 5	Effective 08:00, supply/demand tolerances returned to normal +10/-10 %/TJs levels
Wednesday, Sep 5	Effective 16:00, IT restriction lifted upstream of James River

Effective September 1, 2001, TransCanada's Alberta System total export nomination decreased by approximately 14 e6m3/d (500 mmcf/d). As a result, net system supply exceeded net system market demand and the Alberta System linepack began to significantly increase. Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) was able to accommodate all customers markets, however, net supply continued to exceed net market as customers appeared unable to find replacement markets fast enough. The imbalance in supply to market created operational problems on the Alberta System and it became necessary for NGTL to implement a 0/-20 tolerance change followed by an interruptible receipt restriction on a portion of the Alberta System.

NGTL took the necessary steps to re-establish normal operating conditions. There was generally good cooperation from all sectors of the industry everyone's diligence and patience in working through this period was appreciated by all.

For any additional information on this event, please contact Rob Swart at (403) 920-5590 or e-mail at rob_swart@transcanada.com.