TransCanada Corp. has changed the way natural gas shippers contract for capacity, thus limiting storage access for many producers. Whereas previously TransCanada would scale back service for firm-service shippers to make way for spot shippers, under new guidelines, gas producers with firm-service contracts now have priority over intermittent shippers whose services are being cut.
In addition, TransCanada has been performing pipeline maintenance while continuing work on a very large expansion project on its Nova Gas Transmission (NGTL) system. In NGTL’s most recent update to their daily operating plan, they added new outage events between July and October of 2018, with maintenance possibly continuing into next year.
This has led to massive commodity and transportation price swings. Traditionally, Alberta’s AECO hub prices have moved with other price hubs around North America, including NYMEX and Dawn, but these price relationships have moved further apart in recent months with no sign of getting back to normal.
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