December 2013 Issue 84 Season s Greetings It is at this time of year when, corporately, we pause to reflect upon the year s accomplishments and set our objectives for the coming year. The growing economy of Saskatchewan has presented both challenges and opportunities for TransGas. Projects and strategies to increase Alberta border capacity have allowed us to continue to meet our customers needs for greater receipts. Our expanding pipeline integrity program has ensured we provide a safe and reliable system. Participation in our Customer Dialogue process has allowed us to share insights to our business with customers and gather input on TransGas services, policies, capital expenditure and rate structures. We hope as we come to the end of another year that we have met your expectations for the high standard of service that you have come to expect from TransGas. Over the coming holiday season we hope you take the time to relax and spend some quality time with family and friends. On behalf of TransGas and all our employees around the province, we d like to thank you for your business in 2013 and send our best wishes for 2014 to each and every one of you! Dennis Terry Sr Vice President TransGas Business Services Phil Sandham Vice President Engineering, Construction & TransGas Operations Season s Greetings... 1 New Saskatchewan Load Peak Day... 2 Staff Announcements... 2 TransGas Storage Update... 3 TransGas Transport Update... 3 Moose Jaw Pipeline Bypass Project... 4 H2S Automation Upgrade Project... 5 Alberta Receipt Capacity Update... 6 2013 TransGas Customer Satisfaction Survey Results Released... 6 Helping the United Way... 7 Community Volunteerism... 8
New Saskatchewan Load Peak Day On December 6, TransGas established a new record for transportation to the Saskatchewan delivery area of 1.24 PetaJoules (PJ). This is five per cent greater than the previous all-time Saskatchewan load peak day that occurred on January 18, 2012. Load growth in the province is the primary driver for the new peak. Staff Announcements Effective November 4, Ty Gillies accepted the position of Manager, Rates and Revenue. Ty holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Economics, a Bachelor of Management degree with a major in Accounting, and has also obtained his Certified Management Accountant designation. Ty has several years of finance and accounting experience, gained while working in Assistant Controller and Controller positions for private companies in Alberta. He most recently worked at Mosaic Potash in Regina as an Expansions Reporting Supervisor. Welcome to TransGas, Ty! Andrew Urquhart has accepted the position of Leader, Customer Facility Requests, TransGas Customer Services. With his experience in System Planning, Andrew has had an opportunity to interact with customers and many aspects of TransGas' business. Andrew is a Professional Engineer with a Bachelor of Applied Science with a major in Industrial Systems Engineering and a minor in Environmental Systems Engineering. Welcome to your new role! Page 2
www.transgas.com DID YOU KNOW... TransGas Limited (TransGas) has announced changes to its rates for transportation and storage services that are effective January 01, 2014. Information related to the rate changes can be found on the TransGas website under Newsroom at http://www.transgas.com/newsroom/newsattransgas.asp. TransGas Storage Update As of December 15, TransGas storage customers have a total inventory in storage of 38 PJ, which is 76 per cent of full based on currently contracted storage of 49.6 PJ. Since November 01, 7 PJ has been withdrawn from TransGas storage, most of which during the first two weeks of December. Daily withdrawal amounts from TransGas storage have recently been as high as 550 TJ, which is 76 per cent of contracted firm storage deliverability of 727 TJ per day. TransGas Transport Update The energy transported by TransGas and MIPL this year to November 30 of 230 PJ is nine per cent greater than the same 11-month period in 2012. The significant increase in 2013 year-todate transport versus last year is being driven by Saskatchewan load growth. As we have been a net importer for the past few years, TransGas transportation growth is driven by Saskatchewan load growth. Saskatchewan producer receipts are currently averaging 350 TJ/d, which is a three per cent decline from one year ago. Increasing Saskatchewan receipts from southeast Saskatchewan and the Coleville area oil-related gas production is reducing the net decline of Saskatchewan gas production. Page 3
Moose Jaw Bypass Pipeline Project Safety is our number one priority at TransGas. To help manage the safe operation of our pipeline system a risk assessments on each pipeline is performed annually to prioritize detection, mitigations and prevention programs. In 2012, it was determined that the pipeline that runs through the City of Moose Jaw required additional risk mitigation work in order to reduce the overall calculated risk. Instead of replacing the pipe on the west side of the city, a reroute around the North side of Moose Jaw, outside of the 30 year planning zone was completed. We then replaced the 1958 pipeline on the east side of the city with an extra heavy wall, state-of -the-art coated, new pipeline with an increased safety factor. This was needed to tie into the only town border station (TBS) in Moose Jaw. In the next five to ten years, Moose Jaw may require a second TBS. So, the new pipeline system was designed with optimal tie-in locations for future TBSs in mind. Moose Jaw also became a pilot for some new technology we are implementing in populated areas Remote Valve Isolation. This will allow gas controllers from the control center to shut in block valves without anyone on site needed to touch the valve. This work was identified based on a recommendation from the United States Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration based on some incident investigations that have happened in the United States. This project was realized by many groups working in collaboration and was a great example of TransGas /SaskEnergy s pride and teamwork. This project will be in-service by the end of 2013. New Loop New Replacements Page 4
www.transgas.com H2S Automation Upgrade Project TransGas is actively engaged in a program to upgrade automated monitoring and controls equipment at more than 20 locations where there is a risk of H2S being introduced to the TransGas system. H2S is a poisonous, corrosive gas that appears associated with Natural Gas in certain formations. To protect the integrity of our assets and the safety of our downstream customers, TransGas has tariffs which strictly define the limits for the concentration of H2S that interconnecting pipelines are permitted to deliver onto the TGL system. The automation packages being upgraded are responsible for monitoring this H2S content in the natural gas stream, and automatically isolating the source of supply when those concentrations exceed the tariff limits. The upgrades will completely refresh and modernize the industrial controller equipment at these locations, and provide a number of functional enhancements creating both efficiencies for TransGas and it's customers. Six locations were fully upgraded in 2013, and SCADA Engineering and Electrical Construction staff are actively engaged on another four locations at present. The program will run into 2015 to upgrade all locations. DID YOU KNOW... TransGas NIT to TEP Alberta Receipt Service is for receipt points that initiate at Nova Inventory Transfer (NIT) with TransGas being responsible to contract and transport natural gas through the Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) system in Alberta. Customers utilizing this specific service are: Charged TransGas standard receipt transportation rates; and Subject to an Additional Cost Recovery (ACR) charge related to the transportation of gas to the Saskatchewan border. The ACR charge to be recovered from customers utilizing the NIT to TEP Receipt Service effective January 1, 2014 is being decreased. Information related to the current ACR charge in effect from October 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013 and historical ACR charges can also be found on the TransGas website under Services. Page 5
Alberta Receipt Capacity Update TransGas receipts at the four Alberta interconnects averaged 277 TJ/d during November, which is down from the record level of Alberta receipts of 320 TJ/d during September. The Alberta major interconnect capacity utilization was 85 per cent during the month of November, as compared to 100 per cent utilization during the month of September. The projected Alberta interconnect capacity utilization during the 2013/14 winter is around 80 per cent. 2013 Customer Satisfaction Survey Results Released Every year, TransGas conducts a Customer Satisfaction Survey in order to determine how satisfied our customers are with our customer service. In 2013, the electronic survey was emailed to approximately 350 people representing the companies with whom TransGas conducts business. TransGas was pleased with the response rate and the results from the 2013 survey. The survey indicated that 95 per cent of respondents were either somewhat satisfied or very satisfied with TransGas overall. This result is slightly lower than the results obtained in 2012. Although TransGas is very happy with the high level of customer satisfaction, we remain dedicated to improving our service in all areas of the company. TransGas would like to thank those customers who took the time to complete our survey. Customer feedback is highly valued at TransGas, and we encourage all our customers to contact their Key Account Manager whenever they have questions or concerns about their transportation or storage service. Page 6
www.transgas.com Helping the United Way The SaskEnergy/TransGas 2013 United Way Workplace Campaign was another great success! The theme for the campaign was There Are 101 Reasons to Care, based on Regina s hosting the 101 st Grey Cup Festival in November. Fundraising initiatives included a kick-off luncheon, multiple 50/50 sales, raffle draws, and a Football Draw based on one of the CFL playoff games. Employees were also all offered pledge forms to make their own donations. To get people even more excited to participate, the grand prize for the campaign featured a pair of coveted tickets to the 101 st Grey Cup game! Together with all of the fundraising efforts and generosity of employees, SaskEnergy/TransGas exceeded the goal of $101,000 and raised $129,092 for the United Way. We are proud to have such strong support and enthusiasm from our employees when rallying for such an important cause. And who knows maybe our success with the 101 st Grey Cup theme rubbed off on Saskatchewan s favourite team? DID YOU KNOW... TransGas removed all leased line technologies utilized for SCADA in 2013. This achievement has been 14 years in the making allowing TransGas to now monitor critical system points via wireless technology at lower costs. SCADA stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. Page 7
Community Volunteerism The 101 st Grey Cup Festival, the Celebration in Rider Nation, was an overwhelming success thanks to the thousands of Saskatchewan residents who volunteered for the event. With Saskatchewan having the highest rate of volunteerism in the country, it came at no surprise that people were so eager to volunteer. Equipped with their white winter coats and green Grey Cup scarves, more than 2,400 volunteers contributed over 60,000 unpaid hours of labour to the event. Many even took the week off of work, just to volunteer! More than 60 SaskEnergy/TransGas employees, families and retirees were among this group of volunteers. As the Champion of Volunteers, SaskEnergy/TransGas sponsorship of the 101 st Grey Cup Festival meant our company was involved with many of the activities that took place leading up to, and during, the festival week. TranGas also recruited several employees to assist in the volunteer orientation sessions and to accompany its float in the Safeway Grey Cup Parade. With passion for both volunteerism and Saskatchewan football, those involved with the 101 st Grey Cup Festival played a huge role in the event s success. To ensure the volunteers were recognized for all of their efforts, SaskEnergy/TransGas was among those who played host to the Volunteer Appreciation Night which took place November 28, 2013. As another tribute to the volunteers, the 101 st Grey Cup Festival Committee compiled a video highlighting the festival s volunteerism. Page 8