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“This approval is the first piece of reaching out beyond the Alberta border and accessing a market where we’re going to compete head to head,” Mah said, adding that Western Canadian gas producers can now compete directly against companies in Pennsylvania who are also shipping more natural gas to Ontario.

Eau Claire Energy Advisory president Ed Kallio said Ontario is now at the centre of “a battle between Western Canadian producers and Apalachian producers” to ship the lowest cost natural gas to the province.

The competing Rover Pipeline, by Energy Transfer Partners LP, is expected to be complete by the first quarter of 2018 and deliver and additional 1 bcfd of gas to Ontario from Pennsylvania.

“There is certainly going to be a lot tougher competition,” GMP FirstEnergy analyst Martin King said, as a result of both pipelines feeding more gas into Ontario.

TransCanada would consider more deals to ship natural gas from Western Canada to the Dawn, Ont. storage hub given the success of its reduced tolling arrangement, company spokesperson Shawn Howard.

There is still unused capacity on TransCanada’s mainline, which ships about 3.5 bcfd from Western Canada to Dawn.

But the reduced tolling arrangement is currently only available to those who bid in the open season and for the amount they contracted, Howard noted.

“Since the service is beneficial for producers, the pipeline and existing shippers, and has now been approved by the NEB, TransCanada is open to other ideas that are also mutually beneficial.”