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CALGARY – Natural gas producers in Alberta are frustrated with TransCanada Corp. for changing the way it operates its gas pipeline network with little notice, which has led to massive commodity price swings.

“TransCanada had an industry meeting back in August where they told industry they were changing their priorities,” Peyto Exploration and Development Corp. president and CEO Darren Gee told the Financial Post.

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TransCanada operates the largest and most far-reaching network of natural gas pipelines in Alberta and is the sole outlet for many producers to transport their gas to markets within the province.

Under its new set of priorities, TransCanada gave producers who have firm-service contracts on its natural gas pipelines priority over shippers that use the service intermittently. Previously, TransCanada would scale back service for firm-service shippers to around 80 per cent of contracted capacity during maintenance to make allowances for spot shippers. The uninterrupted, 100 per cent service benefit to fixed-service shippers means at times of maintenance or outages, TransCanada would entirely cut service to shippers with interruptible contracts on its natural gas gathering and transmission network.