[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 246 (Thursday, December 23, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 80758-80761]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-32109]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
18 CFR Part 284
[Docket No. RM11-4-000]
Storage Reporting Requirements of Interstate and Intrastate
Natural Gas Companies
December 16, 2010.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.
ACTION: Notice of inquiry.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is considering
whether to revise regulations requiring interstate and intrastate
natural gas pipelines to report semi-annually on their storage
activities. This Notice of Inquiry will assist the Commission in
determining what changes, if any, should be made to its regulations.
DATES: Comment Date: Comments are due February 22, 2011.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on the Notice of Inquiry, identified
by Docket No. RM11-4-000, by one of the following methods:
Agency Web Site: Documents created electronically using
word processing software should be filed in native applications or
print-to-PDF format, and not in a scanned format, at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp.
Mail/Hand Delivery: Commenters unable to file comments
electronically must mail or hand deliver an original copy of their
comments to: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the
Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. These
requirements can be found on the Commission's Web site; see, e.g., the
``Quick Reference Guide for Paper Submissions,'' available at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp or via phone from FERC Online
Support at 202-502-6652 or toll-free at 1-866-208-3676.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Vince Mareino (Legal Information), Office of the General Counsel,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE.,
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-6167, [email protected].
Kenneth Kohut (Technical Information), Office of Enforcement, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC
20426, (202) 502-6342, [email protected].
Thomas Russo (Technical Information), Office of Enforcement, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC
20426, (202) 502-8792, [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Notice of Inquiry
December 16, 2010.
1. In this Notice of Inquiry, the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (Commission) seeks comments on whether the Commission should
modify the semi-annual storage reports required of interstate and
intrastate natural gas companies pursuant to 18 CFR 284.13(e) and
284.126(c) of the Commission's regulations.\1\ In particular, the
Commission is interested in exploring whether it should modify the
information currently collected in the semi-annual storage reports,
whether there should be a standardized electronic format for the
reports, and whether the storage reports must be public.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The FERC Form No. 549B reporting requirements in 18 CFR
284.13(e) are approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
under OMB Control No. 1902-0169. The Form No. 549 reporting
requirements in 18 CFR 284.126(c) are approved under OMB Control No.
1902-0089.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Background
2. Section 284.13(e) of the Commission's regulations requires
interstate pipelines to file semi-annual storage reports at the end of
each complete storage injection and withdrawal season. Section
284.126(c) requires similar reports by (1) intrastate natural gas
pipelines providing interstate transportation service pursuant to
section 311 of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA) \2\ and (2)
Hinshaw pipelines providing interstate service subject to the
Commission's Natural Gas Act (NGA) section 1(c) jurisdiction pursuant
to blanket certificates issued under 18 CFR 284.224.\3\ The reports by
both sets of pipelines must include:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ 15 U.S.C. 3372.
\3\ Section 1(c) of the NGA exempts from the Commission's NGA
jurisdiction those pipelines which transport gas in interstate
commerce if (1) they receive natural gas at or within the boundary
of a state, (2) all the gas is consumed within that state, and (3)
the pipeline is regulated by a state Commission. This exemption is
referred to as the Hinshaw exemption after the Congressman who
introduced the bill amending the NGA to include section 1(c). See
ANR Pipeline Co. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Comm'n, 71 F.3d 897,
898 (1995) (briefly summarizing the history of the Hinshaw
exemption).
(1) The identity of each customer injecting gas into storage
and/or withdrawing gas from storage (including, for interstate
pipelines, any affiliate relationship),
(2) the rate schedule (for interstate pipelines) or docket
number (for intrastate pipelines) authorizing the storage injection
or withdrawal service,
(3) the maximum storage quantity and maximum daily withdrawal
quantity applicable to each storage customer,
(4) for each storage customer, the volume of gas (in dekatherms)
injected into and/or withdrawn from storage during the period,
(5) the unit charge and total revenues received during the
injection/withdrawal period from each storage customer (including,
for interstate pipelines, any discounts), and
(6) for intrastate pipelines, any related docket numbers under
which the intrastate pipeline reported storage related injection/
withdrawal transportation services.
The pipelines must file these reports within 30 days of the end of each
complete storage injection and withdrawal season, and the reports must
be signed under oath by a senior official. The Commission has not
adopted any standardized electronic form for pipelines to submit the
semi-annual storage reports. Nor has the Commission expressly required
that the reports be public.
3. The Commission adopted the existing semi-annual storage
reporting requirements for both interstate and intrastate pipelines in
their current form in 1992 as part of Order No. 636,\4\ and there have
been only minor modifications in the semi-annual storage reporting
requirements since
[[Page 80759]]
that date.\5\ In Order No. 637,\6\ the Commission revised the reporting
requirements for interstate pipelines in order to require them to post
on their internet Web sites basic information on the terms of each
transportation and storage contract with individual shippers, no later
than the first nomination under a transaction.\7\ These posting
requirements are set forth in section 284.13(b) of the Commission's
regulations.\8\ However, Order No. 637 did not modify the semi-annual
storage reporting requirement for either interstate pipelines or
section 311 and Hinshaw pipelines.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Pipeline Service Obligations and Revisions to Regulations
Governing Self-Implementing Transportation; and Regulation of
Natural Gas Pipelines After Partial Wellhead Decontrol, Order No.
636, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 30,939, order on reh'g, Order No. 636-A,
FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 30,950, order on reh'g, Order No. 636-B, 61
FERC ] 61,272 (1992), order on reh'g, 62 FERC ] 61,007 (1993), aff'd
in part and remanded in part sub nom. United Distribution Cos. v.
FERC, 88 F.3d 1105 (DC Cir. 1996), order on remand, Order No. 636-C,
78 FERC ] 61,186 (1997).
\5\ In 1995 in Order No. 581, the Commission held that it would
``retain the semi-annual storage reports,'' and ``not exempt
intrastate storage companies charging market-based rates from the
requirement to file semi-annual storage reports,'' and made minor
changes to the regulatory text. Revisions to Uniform System of
Accounts, Forms, Statements, and Reporting Requirements for Natural
Gas Companies, Order No. 581, 60 FR 53019, 53049-51, FERC Stats. &
Regs. ] 31,026 (1995), order on reh'g, Order No. 581-A, FERC Stats.
& Regs. ] 31,032 (1996).
\6\ Regulation of Short-Term Natural Gas Transportation Services
and Regulation of Interstate Natural Gas Transportation Services,
Order No. 637, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,091, clarified, Order No.
637-A, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,099, reh'g denied, Order No. 637-B,
92 FERC ] 61,062 (2000), aff'd in part and remanded in part sub nom.
Interstate Natural Gas Ass'n of America v. FERC, 285 F.3d 18 (DC
Cir. 2002), order on remand, 101 FERC ] 61,127 (2002), order on
reh'g, 106 FERC ] 61,088 (2004), aff'd sub nom. American Gas Ass'n
v. FERC, 428 F.3d 255 (DC Cir. 2005).
\7\ The information to be posted includes the name of the
shipper, the contract number (for firm service), the rate charged,
the maximum rate, the duration (for firm service), the receipt and
delivery points and zones covered, the quantity of natural gas
covered, any special terms or details (such as any deviations from
the tariff), and whether any affiliate relationship exists.
\8\ 18 CFR 284.13(b).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. In recent years, the Commission has updated almost all of its
other reporting requirements to clarify their public status,
standardize the filing format, and streamline the process of publishing
the reported data to the general public. For example, in Order No.
2001,\9\ the Commission amended its filing requirements for public
utilities under the Federal Power Act (FPA) to require them to file
Electric Quarterly Reports (EQR) summarizing the contractual terms and
conditions in their contracts for all jurisdictional services during
the most recent calendar quarter. The EQRs include information similar
to that required by the semi-annual storage reports, including the
quantities of service provided and the rates charged for all sales
under the reported contracts. Order No. 2001 required that the EQRs be
filed in a standardized electronic format and that they be public.\10\
In Order No. 710,\11\ the Commission revised the Commission's financial
reporting requirements for natural gas pipelines, FERC Form Nos. 2, 2-
A, and 3-Q, also adopting standardized electronic forms for the filing
of these reports and requiring them to be public. Similarly, new forms,
such as Form No. 552 issued pursuant to the transparency provisions of
section 23 of the Natural Gas Act, have likewise emphasized
standardization and transparency.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ Revised Public Utility Filing Requirements, Order No. 2001,
FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,127, reh'g denied, Order No. 2001-A, 100
FERC ] 61,074, reh'g denied, Order No. 2001-B, 100 FERC ] 61,342,
order directing filing, Order No. 2001-C, 101 FERC ] 61,314 (2002),
order directing filing, Order No. 2001-D, 102 FERC ] 61,334, order
refining filing requirements, Order No. 2001-E, 105 FERC ] 61,352
(2003), order on clarification, Order No. 2001-F, 106 FERC ] 61,060
(2004), order revising filing requirements, Order No. 2001-G, 120
FERC ] 61,270, order on reh'g and clarification, Order No. 2001-H,
121 FERC ] 61,289 (2007), order revising filing requirements, Order
No. 2001-I, 125 FERC ] 61,103 (2008).
\10\ Order No. 2001, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,127 at P 44-46,
74-85, 104-117, reh'g denied, Order No. 2001-A, 100 FERC ] 61,074 at
P 13-17, 30-35.
\11\ Revisions to Forms, Statements, and Reporting Requirements
for Natural Gas Pipelines, Order No. 710, 73 FR 19389, FERC Stats. &
Regs. ] 31,267 (2008), reh'g and clarification, Order No. 710-A, 123
FERC ] 61,278 (2008).
\12\ See Transparency Provisions of Section 23 of the Natural
Gas Act, Order No. 704, 73 FR 1014, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,260
(2007), order on reh'g, Order No. 704-A, 73 FR 55726, FERC Stats. &
Regs. ] 31,275 (2008), order on reh'g, Order No. 704-B, 125 FERC ]
61,302 (2008), order on reh'g, Order No. 704-C, 75 FR 35632, 131
FERC ] 61,246 (2010).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Most relevant to this proceeding, on May 20, 2010, the
Commission issued Order No. 735 to bring the less stringent
transactional reporting requirements for NGPA section 311 intrastate
pipelines and Hinshaw pipelines closer in line with the 18 CFR
284.13(b) posting requirements for interstate pipelines.\13\ As part of
that proceeding, the Commission revised the former annual
transportation report at 18 CFR 284.126(b) to cover storage as well.
Order No. 735 requires that section 311 and Hinshaw pipelines file
quarterly reports in a standardized electronic format, and requires
that those reports be public. As revised in a contemporaneous order on
rehearing, the new quarterly reports must contain the following
information on each transportation and storage transaction, aggregated
by contract:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ Contract Reporting Requirements of Intrastate Natural Gas
Companies, Order No. 735, 75 FR 29404, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,310,
131 FERC ] 61,150 (2010), order on reh'g, Order No. 735-A, Docket
No. RM09-2-001 (Dec. 16, 2010).
i. The full legal name, and identification number, of the
shipper receiving the service, including whether there is an
affiliate relationship between the pipeline and the shipper;
ii. The type of service performed (i.e., firm or interruptible
transportation, storage, or other service);
iii. The rate charged under each contract, specifying the rate
schedule/name of service and docket where the rates were approved.
The report should separately state each rate component set forth in
the contract (i.e., reservation, usage, and any other charges);
iv. The primary receipt and delivery points covered by the
contract, identified by the list of points that the pipeline has
published with the Commission, which shall include the industry
common code for each point where one has already been established;
v. The quantity of natural gas the shipper is entitled to
transport, store, or deliver under each contract;
vi. The duration of the contract, specifying the beginning and
(for firm contracts only) ending month and year of the current
agreement;
vii. Total volumes transported, stored, injected, or withdrawn
for the shipper; and
viii. Annual revenues received for each shipper, excluding
revenues from storage services. The report should separately state
revenues received under each component, and need only be reported
every fourth quarter.
6. Order No. 735 did not modify the existing semi-annual storage
reporting requirement for section 311 and Hinshaw pipelines in section
284.126(c) of the Commission's regulations in any way. That semi-annual
storage report collects certain information that the new quarterly
reports do not. This includes (1) the volumes actually injected and
withdrawn from storage during the injection and withdrawal seasons and
(2) revenues collected from each customer. Moreover, because the semi-
annual reporting periods are tied to the injection and withdrawal
season, the time periods covered by each report do not correspond
precisely. Similarly, the 18 CFR 284.13(b) posting requirements for
interstate pipelines do not collect this information.
II. Discussion
7. The Commission is issuing this Notice of Inquiry to consider
whether and how the semi-annual storage reports required of both
interstate and intrastate pipelines should be modified in light of (1)
changes in the natural gas market since the Commission originally
adopted the semi-annual storage reporting requirements and (2) recent
improvements in the Commission's other reporting requirements.
8. Both the evolution of natural gas markets, and the Commission's
experience in improving the usefulness and accessibility of other
informational reports filed by natural gas pipelines and public
utilities, warrant a review of the continued usefulness of the semi-
annual storage reports in their current
[[Page 80760]]
format. The semi-annual storage reports are now the only significant
report required of regulated entities for which the Commission has not
established a standardized electronic format and required to be public.
As a result, many respondents file these reports subject to requests
for confidential treatment, and/or file the data in a format that is
not conducive to automated data review and posting on the Commission's
Web site for public review. The Commission has often had to rely on
exhaustive data requests in individual rate filings in order to fulfill
its oversight duty, a method that is administratively burdensome to the
pipelines and the Commission. Perhaps more importantly, significant
information in the reports is either not available to the public at all
or, if available, is difficult to analyze because of the different
reporting formats.
9. Further, improved storage technology and the increased use of
natural gas in industry and electric generation have helped transform
the storage market since 1992. There has been a sharp increase in
demand for natural gas outside of the traditional winter months.
Withdrawals and injections, instead of occurring on a uniform annual
schedule based on heating needs, now occur dynamically year-round in
response to market forces.
10. Also, on rehearing of Order No. 735, several parties argued
that, because the new quarterly transportation reports for section 311
and Hinshaw pipelines will include storage transactions, Order No. 735
has made the existing 18 CFR 284.126(c) semi-annual storage reporting
requirement for those pipelines duplicative and therefore the semi-
annual storage report should be eliminated. However, while there is
significant overlap between the two reports, as described above the
semi-annual storage reports for section 311 and Hinshaw pipelines still
require the reporting of certain information not included in the new
quarterly transportation report, including volumes injected and
withdrawn from storage during each injection and withdrawal season and
per-customer storage revenues. The 18 CFR 284.13(e) semi-annual storage
reports by interstate pipelines are also the only place where
interstate pipelines report this information.
11. Accordingly, the Commission requests comment on the following
questions concerning the semi-annual storage reports by both interstate
pipelines and by section 311 and Hinshaw pipelines.
(1) Should the Commission require that the semi-annual storage
reports be public? In recent years, the Commission has clarified that
Form Nos. 2, 2a, 3Q, 552, and other similar reports must be filed
publicly with no provision for redacting data. The EQR, which Order No.
2001 requires to be public, contain reporting requirements quite
similar to the semi-annual storage reports. In the contemporaneous
order on rehearing of Order No. 735, the Commission affirmed that the
new quarterly transportation reports by section 311 and Hinshaw
pipelines will be public as well. Is there any reason why the natural
gas storage reports by interstate and intrastate pipelines should not
be made public?
(2) Should the natural gas storage reporting requirements be
standardized into an electronic form with standard fields and
definitions?
(3) Storage injections and withdrawals are no longer done
exclusively on a seasonal basis, but occur dynamically year-round.
Should any reporting on storage be filed on a quarterly schedule,
instead of semi-annually by injection and withdrawal season?
(4) If a standardized electronic form is developed for storage
reports by interstate pipelines, what data elements from the Data
Dictionary for the new quarterly transportation reports for section 311
and Hinshaw pipelines should be used in the revised interstate pipeline
storage reports? What additional data elements should be included?
(5) Should the Commission require that interstate and section 311
and Hinshaw pipelines must report the different rate components in each
storage customer's contracts separately? What data elements should be
included?
(6) In Order No. 735-A, the Commission removed from the new
quarterly transportation report the requirement that section 311 and
Hinshaw pipelines report revenues received from each storage customer,
partly on the grounds that the semi-annual storage reports require
reporting such information. Should this reporting requirement be
retained for interstate and intrastate storage companies? Is the
revenue information primarily of use in the rate cases of cost-based
rate storage providers, so that revenues need not be reported by
market-based storage providers?
(7) Given the extensive overlap between the new quarterly Form No.
549D reports \14\ and the current requirements of the intrastate semi-
annual storage reports, should the intrastate storage reporting
requirements be folded into Form No. 549D, or kept as a separate form?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ The information collection requirements included in
Commission Order No. 735 for Form No. 549D were approved under OMB
Control No. 1902-0253. The proposed revisions in the order on
rehearing in Docket No. RM09-2-001 are being submitted to OMB for
review and approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
III. Comment Procedures
12. The Commission invites interested persons to submit comments
and other information on the matters, issues, and specific questions
identified in this notice. Comments are due February 22, 2011. Comments
must refer to Docket No. RM11-4-000, and must include the commenter's
name, the organization it represents, if applicable, and its address.
13. To facilitate the Commission's review of the comments,
commenters are requested to provide an executive summary of their
position. Commenters are requested to identify each specific question
posed by the Notice of Inquiry that their discussion addresses and to
use appropriate headings. Additional issues the commenters wish to
raise should be identified separately. The commenters should double-
space their comments.
14. Comments may be filed electronically via the eFiling link on
the Commission's Web site at http://www.ferc.gov or on paper. The
Commission accepts most standard word processing formats and commenters
may attach additional files with supporting information in certain
other file formats (as detailed at http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide.asp). Commenters filing electronically do not need to make a
paper filing.
15. Commenters unable to file comments electronically must mail or
hand deliver an original copy of their comments to: Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street,
NE., Washington, DC 20426.
16. All comments will be placed in the Commission's public files
and may be viewed, printed, or downloaded remotely as described in the
Document Availability section below. Commenters are not required to
serve copies of their comments on other commenters.
IV. Document Availability
17. In addition to publishing the full text of this document in the
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an
opportunity to view and/or print the contents of this document via the
Internet through the Commission's Home Page (http://www.ferc.gov) and
in the Commission's Public Reference Room during normal business hours
(8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time) at 888 First Street, NE., Room 2A,
Washington, DC 20426.
[[Page 80761]]
18. From the Commission's Home Page on the Internet, this
information is available in the Commission's document management
system, eLibrary. The full text of this document is available on
eLibrary in PDF and Microsoft Word format for viewing, printing, and/or
downloading. To access this document in eLibrary, type the docket
number (excluding the last three digits) in the docket number field.
19. User assistance is available for eLibrary and the Commission's
Web site during normal business hours. For assistance, please contact
the Commission's Online Support at 1-866-208-3676 (toll free) or (202)
502-6652 (e-mail at [email protected] or the Public Reference
Room at (202) 502-8371, TTY (202) 502-8659 (e-mail at
[email protected]).
By direction of the Commission.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-32109 Filed 12-22-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P