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Nov 15 (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp TRP.TO said on Tuesday it halted an open season for a new, fixed-price toll on its natural gas pipeline from western Canada to southern Ontario as the bids it received did not make the project viable.
The company launched the open season in October to gauge interest from shippers for the Canadian Mainline.
"The Open Season for the proposed service resulted in bids that fell well short of the volumes required to make the proposal viable," the company said in a statement. had asked shippers to sign up for a 10-year contract and pay between 75 and 82 Canadian cents per gigajoule, depending on volumes. company also offered shippers the option to exit the contract after five years, with a two-year notice period. During that notice period tolls would increase to between 83 Canadian cents and C$1.15 per gigajoule, depending on the total length of the contract and volumes.
The option for a shorter term came after shippers pushed back against TransCanada's initial proposals for a 10-year toll, saying rates were still too high for such a long-term commitment.