Canadian gas won't fill US supply gap

Canadian gas won't fill US supply gap, official cautions

Boston (Platts)--1Apr2004


The prospect of Canadian gas filling the ever-widening gulf between US
production and consumption continues to dim, a TransCanada official said
Thursday. Jim McPherson, director of sales and marketing for Calgary-based
TransCanada, told Interchange Energy's LDC Forum in Boston that despite record
drilling and gas well completions over the past year, production from the
Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin "has declined slightly. We are at a
standstill." And while US demand for Canadian gas grows, more of Canada's
domestic production is expected to stay in that country, particularly for the
development of its oil sands, McPherson explained. This year, as much as
800,000 Mcf/d will be used to process oil sands in Canada. By 2015, that could
rise to more than 1.8 Bcf/d, he said.