[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 39 (Monday, March 1, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9202-9203]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-4089]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. RM07-10-002]
Transparency Provisions of Section 23 of the Natural Gas Act;
Notice of Form No. 552 Technical Conference
February 22, 2010.
Take notice that on March 25, 2010, a technical conference will be
convened to consider certain issues concerning Form No. 552, related to
Order Nos. 704, 704-A and 704-B.\1\ The technical conference will be
held in the
[[Page 9203]]
Commission Meeting Room at the headquarters of the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC, from 9
a.m. to 2 p.m. (EDT). The conference will be open to the public; there
is no registration to attend.\2\
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\1\ Transparency Provisions of Section 23 of the Natural Gas
Act, Order No. 704, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,260 (2007) (Final
Rule); Transparency Provisions of Section 23 of the Natural Gas Act,
Order No. 704-A, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,275 (2008); and
Transparency Provisions of Section 23 of the Natural Gas Act, Order
No. 704-B, 125 FERC ] 61,302 (2008).
\2\ A Notice of Extension of Time is being issued concurrently
with this notice granting all natural gas participants an extension
of time until July 1, 2010 to file their Form No. 552 for calendar
year 2009.
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On December 26, 2007, the Commission issued Order No. 704,
Transparency Provisions of Section 23 of the Natural Gas Act. The Final
Rule, among other things, requires natural gas market participants to
report sales and purchase volumes of physical natural gas that use,
contribute to, or may contribute to the formation of a price index
during a calendar year. On September 18, 2008, the Commission issued
Order 704-A Order on Rehearing and Clarification and on December 18,
2008 the Commission issued Order 704-B, Order Dismissing Rehearing
Request as Deficient, Denying Reconsideration, and Granting and Denying
Clarification.
On October 9, 2009 and November 3, 2009, the American Gas
Association and Pacific Gas & Electric Company, respectively, submitted
supplemental comments requesting clarification of certain reporting
requirements in Form No. 552. Staff has also identified other areas in
the form that require clarification and inconsistencies in reporting
physical natural gas transactions that arose during data collection and
outreach. The inconsistencies and issues identified and discussed below
will be the subject of the technical conference for Form No. 552. The
Commission may elect to modify Form No. 552 following reviews of the
supplemental comments requesting clarification and its own
clarifications after the technical conference.
The technical conference will address only the issues identified by
staff. The topics for discussion at the conference are: (1)
Inconsistencies in reporting upstream transactions in the natural gas
supply chain on Form No. 552, and whether these transactions contribute
to wholesale price formation; (2) whether transactions involving
balancing, cash-out, operational, and in-kind transactions should be
reported on Form No. 552; and (3) whether the units of measurement
(TBtu) currently used for reporting volumes in the form are
appropriate.
Order No. 704-A held that transactions involving unprocessed
natural gas were not reportable on Form No. 552. The Commission also
held that transactions regarding unprocessed natural gas should not be
counted when determining whether an entity falls below the de minimis
threshold.
Through various outreach efforts and data collected in Form No. 552
for calendar year 2008, Commission staff has learned that substantial
volumes of upstream natural gas transactions may not be reflected in
Form No. 552, because of inconsistent reporting practices. The sales
and purchase volumes of upstream natural gas transactions are currently
reportable on Form No. 552 if they use, contribute to, or may
contribute to the formation of a price index. Staff believes that Form
No. 552 filers have interpreted this requirement in various ways based
on their unique situations. Therefore, staff would like to gain a
better understanding of industry reporting practices for upstream
transactions in the natural gas supply chain and to determine whether
upstream natural gas contributes to wholesale price formation.
In Orders 704-A and 704-B, the Commission found that balancing,
cash-out, operational, in-kind, and similar transactions must be
reported in Form No. 552 if they use, contribute to, or could
contribute to the formation of a price index. Staff has preliminary
indications that the volumes of natural gas identified as cash-outs are
relatively low in relation to the total reportable physical natural gas
reported on Form No. 552. Therefore, staff is seeking to better
understand the burden and benefits of reporting these volumes.
Finally, filers have expressed confusion about the requirement in
Form No. 552 to report transactions in trillion Btus (TBtu). Converting
data to TBtus led to a number of filing errors, and subsequent
resubmissions to correct the data were required. Staff is seeking
feedback on whether changing the reporting units to an industry
standard unit of measure like decatherms would facilitate reporting.
An agenda for the conference will be issued in a later notice. This
technical conference will not be webcast. It will be transcribed.
Transcripts of the conference will be available immediately for a fee
from Ace Reporting Company (202-347-3700 or 1-800-336-6646).
Any person interested in filing comments after the conference
should do so in this docket by April 2, 2010. A person is not required
to have attended the conference in order to file comments on the
specific topics herein.
Commission conferences and meetings are accessible under section
508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations
please send an e-mail to [email protected] or call toll free (866)
208-3372 (voice) or 202-502-8659 (TTY), or send a fax to 202-208-2106
with the required accommodations.
For additional information, please contact Christopher Peterson at
202-502-8933 or [email protected] and Thomas Russo at 202-
502-8792 or [email protected] of FERC's Office of Enforcement.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-4089 Filed 2-26-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P