Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline in Early Planning to Bring More Atlantic Canadian Natural Gas to U.S. Markets

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline L.L.C (Boston, Mass. & Halifax, Nova Scotia) is nearing construction of its Phase III Expansion Project and has much more to follow. Due to be in service in 2003, Phase III will entail the construction of 25 miles of 30 diameter pipeline from Methuen to Beverly, Massachusetts. The aim of this expansion project is to connect the 650-mile Maritimes pipeline system with Algonquin Gas Transmission Company's (Houston, Texas) 1,000-mile pipeline system. Algonquin's HubLine Expansion Project involves the construction of 30 miles of 24 diameter pipeline from Beverly to Weymouth, Massachusetts.

Both Phase III & HubLine have received certificates from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Maritimes named Murphy Brothers Incorporated (East Moline, Illinois) as the preconstruction contractor. Both the Phase III & HubLine pipelines will deliver significant additional supplies of natural gas to help meet growing demand in New England and the Northeast, being driven by new gas-fired power plants, local distribution growth, and third party traders.

Looking long term, Maritimes is now in early planning and has filed with the National Energy Board (NEB) in Canada and the FERC in the U.S. for the Phase IV Expansion Project. Phase IV will involve the construction of eight new turbine-driven compressor stations, of which four will be in Canada and four in the U.S., ranging in size from 20,000 to 28,100 horsepower. The four 20,000 horsepower compressor stations in Canada will be located in Concord and Amherst Head, Nova Scotia and New Canaan and Tracyville, New Brunswick. The four 28,100 horsepower compressor stations in the U.S. will be located in Eliot, Gorham, Searsmont, and Brewer, Maine. The in-service date ranges from July of 2004 to November of 2005, depending on the completion date of EnCana's (TSE:ECA, NYSE:ECA)(Calgary, Alberta) Deep Panuke Project offshore of Nova Scotia, which will supply the increased volume of natural gas. The preliminary and prefiling work was awarded to Atlantic Gas Engineers (Halifax, Nova Scotia). Phase IV will increase gas flow from the present 500-mmcf/d to nearly 1 Bcf/d when completed. The estimated capital investment for the Phase IV Project is $117 million in Canada and $250 million in the U.S. There are very early discussions of a Phase V, which would include extensive looping of its 650-mile line. Maritimes hopes to grow capacity on its line to 2 Bcf/d by 2010.

Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, L.L.C. is owned by Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina) 37.5%, WestCoast Energy Inc. 37.5% (Recently purchased by Duke), ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas) 12.5%, and Emera 12.5%. Maritimes operates a 650-mile underground natural gas pipeline system, which begins near Goldboro, Nova Scotia, crosses the Canadian/U.S. border at Baileyville, Maine, and interconnects with the pipeline grid near Dracut, Massachusetts. The pipeline began service on December 21, 1999 and its present 400-mmcf/d capacity is fed by the Sable Offshore Energy Project.