OM and Westcoast Energy Inc. Enter Electronic Exchange Partnership

Westcoast Energy Inc. (Westcoast) and OM Group (OM) of Sweden announced today that they have entered into a partnership arrangement that will further enhance and develop Natural Gas Exchange's (NGX) position as a leading energy exchange in the North American market. The partnership will involve the sale of 51% of Westcoast's wholly owned subsidiary NGX to OM. The sale, subject to approval by the Alberta Securities Commission and Investment Canada, is expected to close by March 31, 2000. Westcoast will remain a partner in NGX and has the option to put the balance of its interest to OM, subject to certain conditions. The sale transaction will result in an after tax gain of CAD $7.0 million in 2000 for Westcoast, while providing significant opportunities for future growth. NGX, located in Calgary, Canada, provides electronic trading to natural gas buyers and sellers at the Intra-Alberta and Empress market centres. Over the past six years, under Westcoast operation, NGX has developed a natural gas exchange that has grown to over 120 trading and viewing customers with trading volumes averaging over 200,000 TJ per month. With the rapid development of electronic trading, volumes transacted over the Exchange have more than doubled over the last two years and the trading customers now include some of the largest players in the North American energy industry. Westcoast and OM will be working closely with the NGX management team to ensure NGX customers continue to receive a high quality of service, credit support and transactional capability. "Westcoast is excited about this new phase in NGX's development. We are looking forward to working with OM given its excellent reputation as a leading electronic exchange owner, operator and technology supplier. NGX's development to date has been impressive and with OM as a partner this development will be enhanced and accelerated," said Michael Phelps, Westcoast Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "This transaction underlines Westcoast's ability to foster and grow unregulated energy businesses to the benefit of our customers and shareholders. With this partnership NGX will be positioned to offer to its customers an unparalled hub to conduct B2B electronic trading in energy products." "Through our combination of leading-edge technology and market know-how, we will be able to develop NGX into one of the really strong players in the North American market. NGX will be the platform from where we roll-out new, innovative and cost-effective energy trading products, such as a range of energy derivatives, to the rest of North America," said Magnus Karlsson, Executive Vice President of the OM Group. NGX, which commenced trading operations in 1994, has 24 employees and had a turnover of CAD $6 million in 1999. The acquisition is expected to have a positive affect on this year's earnings per share for the partners. Westcoast Energy Inc. (TSE: W; NYSE: WE) headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, is a leading North American energy company with assets of approximately CAD $11 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. OM Group, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, is a leader in providing products and services in the field of transaction technology. OM operates exchanges in London and Stockholm and develops technology which increases the efficiency of financial and energy markets throughout the world, e.g. the California Power Exchange, the Nordic electricity exchange Nord Pool, the Finnish electricity exchange EL-EX, the Australian Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange. OM, together with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, announced on Tuesday their plans to launch Jiway: a Euro 100 million venture that will be an entirely new Exchange concept providing a single access point to more than 6,000 US and European shares. OM's parent company, OM Gruppen (OMG), is listed on the OM Stockholm Exchange. More information is available on the Company's web site at www.omgroup.com.