Westcoast Energy Announces Open Season On Southern Mainline and Westcoast Alberta Facilities.

Business Editors

VANCOUVER, B.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 2001

Westcoast Energy Inc. (Westcoast) (NYSE:WE)(TSE:W.) announced today an open season for additional transportation service on its Southern Mainline and Westcoast Alberta facilities, carrying gas from producing areas in British Columbia, Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories, to the B.C. Lower Mainland and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

This additional service is a result of the proposed expansions of its facilities, which would have anticipated in-service dates of November 1, 2003.

"The proposed Westcoast expansions on the Southern mainline and Westcoast Alberta facilities are being driven by the continued growth in British Columbia and the U.S. Pacific Northwest gas demand, much of it for power generation. This demand growth, combined with substantial supply additions in B.C., Alberta and southern Northwest Territories producing areas, has created the need for additional pipeline capacity," said Doug Haughey, President, Westcoast Energy Pipeline and Field Services Divisions.

"The Westcoast Energy Inc. pipeline system in British Columbia is ideally positioned to link this growing market demand to growing supply areas," he noted.

Southern Mainline

The additional firm transportation service on the Southern mainline, would be made available through a pipeline expansion of approximately 200 MMcf/d (5,666 103m3) consisting of a combination of additional pipeline and compression facilities.

"This allows us to respond quickly and efficiently to the pipeline infrastructure constraints into the B.C. Lower Mainland / U.S. Pacific Northwest regions, allowing Canadian natural gas supplies to flow to these markets. While we are anticipating a 2003 in-service date for the new capacity, we will make every effort to make some of the additional capacity available sooner," he outlined.

Westcoast will apply to the National Energy Board (NEB) to toll the Southern mainline expansion facilities on a rolled-in basis using Westcoast's authorized toll methodology.

"We expect that customers will see a nominal toll increase in the range of (Cdn) $0.01 to (Cdn) $0.02 per Mcf as a result of this Southern mainline expansion," said Mr. Haughey.

Westcoast Alberta

In addition, Westcoast is also conducting an open season for 100 MMcf/d (2,833 103m3) of additional firm service on some segments of its Westcoast Alberta system, carrying gas west from Alberta, via Gordondale into B.C. The proposed in-service date is November 1, 2003.

"We believe that the expansion of this portion of the Westcoast Alberta mainline facilities will provide customers with additional and enhanced access the growing supplies in the Alberta producing area," said Mr. Haughey. "This expansion would be extremely cost effective. We estimate that the Westcoast Alberta toll would increase by less than half a cent," explained Mr. Haughey.

Prospective shippers interested in acquiring firm service transportation must submit a request for service. These requests will be considered by Westcoast to be firm, binding commitments for expansion service awarded to successful participants during the open season. The open season term concludes prior to12 noon MDT on May 31, 2001.

Westcoast is currently examining the need for an expansion of its other Northern mainline segments and anticipates holding an open season for this service early in the third quarter, 2001. The in-service date of the additional Northern mainline expansion facilities would coincide with the in-service date of both the currently proposed Southern mainline and Westcoast Alberta expansion facilities.

To obtain more information, please contact Gary Weilinger, Director, Marketing, Westcoast Pipeline and Field Services Divisions [phone].

Additional information is available at www.wei-pipeline.com.

Westcoast Energy Inc. (TSE: W; NYSE: WE) headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, is a leading North American energy company with assets of approximately $15 billion. The Company's interests include natural gas gathering, processing, transmission, storage and distribution, as well as power generation, international energy businesses, and financial, information technology and energy services businesses. More information is available on the Company's Web site at www.westcoastenergy.com.