FERC approves Northwest Pipeline pre-filed rate settlement

TULSA, Okla. - Williams Partners L.P. (WPZ) on April 27 announced that its Northwest Pipeline system received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on a pre-filed rate settlement.

Northwest filed a Stipulation and Settlement Agreement with the FERC on March 15.

The supporting or non-opposing customers named in the settlement represent approximately 99.5 percent of Northwest's long-term firm transportation and storage capacity.

Williams (WMB) owns approximately 69 percent of Williams Partners, including the general-partner interest.

"We're pleased to have reached a settlement with our customers. We appreciate the long-standing relationships with them that allowed us to work cooperatively and reach a timely quick settlement," said Randy Barnard, senior vice president of the partnership's interstate gas pipeline business.

The settlement is based on an annual cost of service of $466.5 million and established a new general system firm transportation rate of $0.44 per dekatherm, a 7.4 percent increase over the current rate. New rates will become effective Jan. 1, 2013. Northwest can file another rate case in three years and must file within five years. The settlement is in line with Williams Partners' and Williams' earnings and cash flow guidance for 2013 and 2014.

CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission files to establish Perryville Hub

HOUSTON, Texas - CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission Co., LLC, an indirect, wholly-owned interstate natural gas pipeline subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy, Inc., announced on March 21 a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to amend certain provisions in its tariff to establish a Perryville Hub Trading Point within the existing Perryville Hub that can be accessed for primary or secondary receipt and/or delivery of natural gas using the company's firm and interruptible transportation and wheeling services.

The hub will have access to receive or deliver natural gas from the 21 interconnects CEGT has with interstate pipelines in the Perryville Hub. CEGT also proposes to establish the PTP as a site for trading or title transfers of natural gas between the company's shippers and/or non-shippers.

To accommodate trading needs, CEGT also has applied to list the hub as a trading point on the Intercontinental Commodity Exchange (ICE), allowing users to manage risks confidently and in real time. Reed added that with the addition of the ICE point, the hub will also provide new and existing customers, including the growing electric power and storage markets, a liquid point to buy and sell gas. In 2013, the PVH will directly connect with the high deliverability of the seven billion cubic feet Perryville Gas Storage project, further increasing liquidity and creating additional opportunities for CEGT and its affiliate, Mississippi River Transmission's, customers.

Corruption at FERC: Lawyer charges pipelines given freedom to profiteer

Thomson Reuters News & Insight columnist David Cay Johnston on Oct. 17 reported that a fourth of the nation’s oil pipelines last year earned excessive profits, at up to seven times the rates allowed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

The charge appears in an explosive analysis prepared by a former general counsel for FERC.

R. Gordon Gooch, the former counsel, alleges in his Oct. 3 study, that Sunoco’s Mid-Valley Pipeline, which carries crude oil from Texas to Michigan, earned a 55 percent return on assets. That is seven times its authorized profit margin, based on a calculation derived from an accounting report the company filed with FERC.

Three other regulated monopoly pipelines earned more than 40 percent on their assets, while another three earned more than 30 percent, an examination of their FERC filings by the Reuters news agency shows.

To put that level of profitability into context, overall nonfinancial businesses earned a 6.7 percent after-tax profit on their assets last year, the latest Bureau of Economic Affairs report shows.

Williams Partners applies to expand natural gas service to Southeast

TULSA, Okla. - Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) on Nov. 2 announced that it has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expand its Transco natural gas pipeline by 225,000 dekatherms per day to serve markets in the Southeastern U.S.

New service from the Mid-South Expansion project would be available in two phases, subject to FERC approval.

Phase 1 would increase capacity by 95,000 dekatherms per day by the fall of 2012, while Phase II would increase capacity by 130,000 dekatherms per day by the summer of 2013.

Demand for natural gas in the Southeastern U.S. is growing at a rate more than twice the national average.

The Mid-South Expansion project is designed to transport natural gas from Transco's Station 85 pool to new and existing power generation and municipal facilities in the Southeast.

"This filing is an important milestone in our efforts to meet our customers' growing needs for natural gas in the Southeast," said Phil Wright, president of Williams' natural gas pipeline business. "We look forward to continuing to work with all stakeholders to successfully implement this project."

Judge orders FERC to reconsider pipeline reporting rules

WASHINGTON - The D.C. Circuit has ordered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider its reporting requirements for interstate natural gas pipelines, saying the agency "failed to respond to the reasonable concerns of a dissenting commissioner."
In 2008, FERC adopted new reporting requirements that called for greater clarity, so users could better determine if pipelines were charging too much for operating costs.
The agency took action after discovering that pipelines were carrying over enormous fuel costs beyond what was consumed - $711 million in 2005, for example. This meant higher "fuel charges" for customers, who were billed a percentage of the retained fuel costs to offset the pipelines' costs.
FERC required pipelines to break down their costs, including showing the difference between the amount of gas received from shippers and the volume of gas consumed each month.
"In the commission's view, customers should only pay for the services they use," Judge Janice Rogers Brown explained.
The American Gas Association, a national trade group of gas utilities, agreed that reporting revisions were needed, but argued that "greater clarity regarding gas purchase and sales activities can be achieved."

Williams plans Blue Bridge Pipeline in Columbia River Gorge

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold public meetings in August on a proposed 119-mile natural gas pipeline that would run mostly parallel to an existing pipeline along the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge.
Williams Northwest Pipeline says the Blue Bridge Pipeline is needed to meet increased demand for natural gas in western Washington markets.
"One of our major customers, Puget Sound Energy, was the driving force behind the project," said Michele Swaner, spokeswoman for the Salt Lake City-based pipeline company.
Williams Northwest recently scaled back the size of the project at Puget Sound Energy's request after the utility cited changing market conditions, she said.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued notice of its intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for the project.
At hearings Aug. 11 in Goldendale and Aug. 12 in Stevenson, affected landowners, government agencies, Native American tribes, environmental groups and other interested parties will be invited to comment on what issues the EIS should address.
Michael Lang, conservation director for Friends of the Columbia Gorge, said an earlier version of the pipeline proposal raised significant environmental concerns, including the possibility that the national scenic area would be marred by "a permanent linear clear-cut." Lang said he had not seen the details of the scaled-back project.
"We'll be reviewing the project to make sure it doesn't harm the scenic beauty of the Gorge, fish and wildlife habitat or recreation use," he said.
The Blue Bridge Pipeline would deliver natural gas from the Rocky Mountains along a route that crosses northeast Oregon and enters Washington at the small town of Plymouth. It would consist of six sections that would parallel the existing Williams pipeline through Benton, Klickitat and Skamania counties for about 74 percent of its length. It would connect with the north-south Williams pipeline at
Washougal.