Subject: ferc issues nopr on intra - day recalls of released capacity
ngi ' s daily gas price index
published : october 17 , 2001
ferc issues nopr on intra - day recalls of released capacity
given the inability of the natural gas standards - setting organization to resolve the issue of intra - day recalls of released transportation capacity , ferc has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking ( nopr ) that would give releasing shippers the flexibility to re - nominate their recalled capacity at the next scheduling opportunity provided by an interstate pipeline .
existing gas industry standards board ( gisb ) standards require a shipper that wants to re - nominate recalled capacity to notify its transportation provider by no later than 8 a . m . central clock time ( cct ) on a nomination day at the latest , and bars partial - day recalls of capacity . ferc proposes to allow shippers to recall capacity and re - nominate the recalled capacity at each of the three intra - day nomination opportunities .
" by enabling releasing shippers to recall and renominate capacity quickly , they will have greater incentive to release capacity , providing capacity purchasers with an alternative to purchasing pipeline interruptible service . at the same time , this proposal will provide replacement shippers whose capacity is recalled with the same advance notice and protection from bumping as is provided to interruptible shippers under the commission ' s regulations , " the nopr said [ rm 96 - 1 - 019 ] .
existing gisb standards applying to capacity - release recalls were adopted in 1996 , when there was only one nomination per day at 11 : 30 a . m cct and a single non - standardized intra - day nomination , it noted . " but the circumstances under which the recall standards were developed have markedly changed as the number of nomination opportunities have now expanded to four nomination opportunities . "
given the lack of " consensus supporting " gisb ' s existing recall standards and the standards - setting group ' s failure to settle the issue , the commission is forced to " resolve the policy question regarding partial - day recalls , " the nopr said . permitting partial - day recalls of released capacity , the commission concluded , was in keeping with the overall regulatory changes that it enacted in order 637 .
the natural gas supply association ( ngsa ) , which represents major producers , and houston - based dynegy let ferc know that they weren ' t big fans of partial - day recalls . these could undermine system reliability , they contend , by shutting in production and increasing scheduling problems , overruns , penalties or operational flow orders .
but the commission discounted these arguments . " . . . [ t ] he use of partial - day recalls should create no additional scheduling problems since recalls will be scheduled according to the existing scheduling requirements . in effect , releasing shippers using partial - day recalls are creating another form of interruptible transportation to compete with pipeline interruptible capacity , and shippers purchasing recallable capacity should be subject to the same scheduling rules that apply to interruptible transportation . partial - day recalls will be no more likely to result in shut - in production than interruptible transactions that are subject to being bumped under the current standards , " the nopr noted .