Calgary, AB (March 7, 2005) The National Energy Board (NEB) and the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) (the Boards) will jointly release a report entitled Alberta's Ultimate Potential for Conventional Natural Gas on Wednesday March 9, 2005.

The report estimates that Alberta's ultimate potential for marketable conventional natural gas is 6276 billion cubic metres (223 trillion cubic feet). The report shows that 2838 billion cubic metres (101 trillion cubic feet) of conventional natural gas remains to be developed. Of the remaining 2838 billion cubic metres (101 trillion cubic feet), there is 1104 billion cubic metres (39 trillion cubic feet) discovered and 1734 billion cubic metres (62 trillion cubic feet) undiscovered. Data from 320,000 wells drilled to December 2004 was used to arrive at the numbers.

In 1994, the Boards signed Common Reserves Database Agreement Memorandum of Understanding. Honouring this agreement, the Boards began work on the joint study the first collaborative effort by the two Boards who, respectively, prepare estimates of energy supply and demand on provincial and national scales. The report enables estimates to be made about the volume of conventional natural gas available to meet future Canadian domestic and export demands.

Canada fulfils an important role in the North American natural gas market. Today, Canada provides about 25 per cent of the total North American gas production. Alberta is the major contributor to gas supply, accounting for almost 80 per cent of total Canadian production.

The NEB is an independent federal agency that regulates several aspects of Canada's energy industry. Its purpose is to promote safety, environmental protection and economic efficiency in the Canadian public interest within the mandate set by Parliament in the regulation of pipelines, energy development and trade.

The EUB ensures that the discovery, development, and delivery of Alberta's resources and utilities services take place in a manner that is fair, responsible, and in the public interest.

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Note to editors:Please see backgrounder for more detailed information.

Darin Barter EUB Communications Office: (403) 297-4116 Cellular: (403) 651-9487 darin.barter@gov.ab.ca

Denis Tremblay NEB Communications Officer Office: (403) 299-2717 Fax: (403) 292-5503 dtremblay@neb-one.gc.ca

Table B shows a breakdown of ultimate potential for natural gas into its components as of early December 2004 (production to end of October 2004).

Table B. Categorization of ultimate potentialmedium case

Ultimate potential refers to an estimate of the volume of marketable gas reserves that will be proven to exist in a geological basin or in a specific area after exploration has ceased, having regard for the geological prospects of that area and anticipated technology and economic conditions. At any point in time, ultimate potential is the sum of resources that have been discovered and resources that are still undiscovered. Discovered resources have been confirmed by wells drilled, while undiscovered resources are expected to be discovered by future drilling.

Cumulative production is the total amount of natural gas produced to a given date.

Gas in place is the volume of gas in the reservoir.

Recoverable gas is the volume that can be produced.

Marketable gas is the volume that remains after processing.

Remaining gas (ultimate potential minus cumulative production) represents the volume available to meet future market demands.

NR2005-04