Friday is D-Day for natural gas pipelines to make the switch over to a new transportation nominations schedule designed to help coordinate the natural gas and power markets.

FERC has approved tariff filings from dozens of natural gas pipelines seeking to comply with revisions to the interstate nomination timeline outlined in a final rule approved nearly a year ago. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission adopted two proposals submitted by the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) to revise the interstate natural gas nomination timeline and make conforming changes to their standards [RM-14-2] (see Daily GPI, April 16, 2015).

FERC Order No. 809 was implemented to improve coordination of wholesale natural gas and electricity market scheduling as the nation increasingly relies on gas for electric generation. It moved the Timely Nomination Cycle deadline for scheduling gas transportation from 11:30 a.m. CCT to 1 p.m. CCT and added a third intraday nomination cycle during the gas operating day to help shippers adjust their scheduling to reflect changes in demand, beginning April 1.

While the final rule adopted two proposals submitted by the North American Energy Standards Board to revise the interstate natural gas nomination timeline and make conforming changes to their standards, it declined to adopt the notice of proposed rulemaking to move the 9 a.m. CCT start of the gas day to 4 a.m. CCT.

In an order issued Tuesday, FERC accepted tariff filings from more than 150 natural gas pipelines with requested effective dates of April 1. It also denied several requests for waivers to portions of the rule, while accepting some others.

Among the waivers approved by FERC were requests from eleven pipelines, most with only a single source of gas or one customer, that sought continuation of previously granted waivers of the NAESB Wholesale Gas Quadrant’s gas quality posting requirements.

At the beginning of March, in accordance with Order No. 809, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) said it intended to comply by making a number of changes, which would go into effect for trade date March 31 (see Daily GPI,March 2). ICE said it would make the following changes to physical gas markets:

The opening time for all “NxDay Intra” U.S. physical gas markets will change from 11:30 a.m. CCT to 1 p.m. CCT.