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Cenovus Energy Inc. recently increased its committed capacity on Keystone XL from 50,000 bpd to 150,000 bpd. “Any news that improves market access is a step in the right direction, and we remain optimistic KXL will be built,” Cenovus spokesperson Ruth Anne Beck said in an email.

'It’s very much a ‘show me first’ market,' in which investors would need to see the new system working before injecting funds into the sector. Jeremy McCrea, Raymond James analyst

As happy as oil producers are with the Keystone XL court win, most Canadian gas producers were equally pleased with the late Thursday bulletin from TC Energy that it’s changing the way it allocates space on the Nova gas system when certain lines are down for maintenance.

The change would resolve a two-year fight between TC Energy and the majority of natural gas producers in the province. Gas producers had said that TC Energy cuts their access to storage during maintenance periods, which results in wild swings in AECO natural gas prices and has scared off investors concerned about market volatility.

“This changing of the protocol will allow more gas into storage during periods of maintenance over the summer, which will reduce the volatility on AECO by essentially stopping the AECO price from collapsing,” Alberta Associate Minister of Natural Gas Dale Nally said in an interview.

“I think this is great news for the industry,” Nally said, adding that he met with over 80 companies in the gas business, most of whom were eager to see the new protocol implemented.

Raymond James analyst Jeremy McCrea said “it’s very much a ‘show me first’ market,” noting that investors would need to see the new system working before injecting funds into the sector.

The National Energy Board still needs to approve the new protocol, but TC Energy expects the change to take effect at the beginning of September.

The company is requesting an expedited process for implementing the change as “a sufficient number” of gas producers wanted the new protocol, TC Energy’s John said in an email.

Associate Minister Nally said there would be additional measures to boost the domestic gas industry. “This was not a one and done endeavour,” he said.

• Email: gmorgan@nationalpost.com | Twitter: geoffreymorgan