Content
Selected Operating Highlights
|
Year ended December 31, |
2008 |
2007 |
2006 |
|
Average Daily Throughput Volume |
|||
|
Alliance Canada (millions of cubic feet per day) |
1,609.0 |
1,598.0 |
1,592.0 |
|
Saskatchewan System 1(thousands of barrels per day) |
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|
Westspur System |
177.8 |
157.2 |
155.2 |
|
Saskatchewan Gathering System |
123.7 |
109.6 |
103.8 |
|
Weyburn System |
34.7 |
35.0 |
37.3 |
|
Virden System |
26.4 |
24.2 |
20.7 |
|
Green Power 2 (thousands of megawatt hours produced) |
312.5 |
285.0 |
52.2 |
- Totals are not presented as the same volumes can be transported through a combination of the pipelines comprising the Saskatchewan System.
- Wind assets were acquired on October 1, 2006. NRGreen’s Kerrobert waste heat recovery facility began operations in 2006. NRGreen’s three new facilities, Loreburn, Estlin and Alameda, began operations in May, July and November of 2008, respectively.
Alliance Canada transportation deliveries for the year, including Authorized Overrun Service (AOS) averaged 1,609 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d) (21.4% in excess of firm capacity of 1,325 mmcf/d) compared with 1,598 mmcf/d (20.6% in excess of firm capacity) in 2007. This increase is reflective of Alliance Canada’s continued focus on improving efficiencies on its system. An increase in AOS does not impact earnings; however, it does increase the competitiveness of Alliance Canada’s tolls.
Throughputs for the Saskatchewan System have increased compared with the prior year due to several reasons, including the completion of the Westspur expansion, increased volumes being trucked to the pipelines and additional volumes from new customer connections. Higher throughputs do not directly impact earnings on the Saskatchewan Gathering and Westspur Systems since these systems are cost-of-service based. However, a portion of the increased throughput on these systems is attributable to the Westspur expansion, which will generate additional earnings on the incremental capital invested. Throughput levels may directly impact the earnings of the Weyburn and Virden systems.
The increase in energy production by Green Power was reflective of a partial year of operations from NRGreen’s three new waste heat facilities, Loreburn, Estlin and Alameda, which were put into service in 2008. The increase from the new facilities was partially offset by downtime due to equipment failures at the facilities during the year, for which warranty and insurance claims are being pursued. Additionally, the energy produced by the three wind power projects is lower than the prior year’s production due to a lower wind resource in 2008.