Natural Gas Council (NGC) members on Wednesday will present to FERC the results of a 14-month long effort to reach a consensus on the hot-button issues involving the energy content of the domestic gas stream and imported liquefied natural gas (LNG).

In late 2003, the NGC established an industrywide coalition to develop guidelines and specifications for the quality of domestic natural gas entering pipelines, as well as the ability of LNG to be interchangeable with conventional U.S. gas supplies (see Daily GPI, March 24, 2004).

At Wednesday’s regular FERC meeting, the coalition’s hydrocarbon task force will discuss a methodology that it has come up with for setting a hydrocarbon dew point standard, said Donald Santa Jr., president of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) and NGC member. In addition, the coalition’s interchangeability task force will present guidelines for setting interchangeability standards, he noted.

Santa declined to reveal any of the details in advance of the FERC meeting. He along with Skip Horvath, president of the Natural Gas Supply Association, and Mark Hereth, a consultant with Process Performance Improvement Inc., will make presentations to the Commission on Wednesday. Santa said he also expected FERC to call a technical conference to discuss the coalition’s proposals.

Santa said that the group gave FERC Chairman Pat Wood an update of its efforts in mid to late December, and indicated that it needed more time. Wood followed up with a letter earlier this month, asking them to appear at the March 2 agency meeting and present the final reports.

The rising hydrocarbon content of domestic gas entering pipelines has become a pressing issue, causing industry members, particularly pipelines and local distribution companies (LDCs), to urge FERC to approve tighter restrictions on domestic gas quality. Pipes contend that hydrocarbon-rich gas leads to liquids fallout that causes operational problems on their systems.

A growing number of U.S. producers are tending not to strip out hydrocarbons from their gas due to high gas prices and tight supply. Produces are able to fetch a better price for their gas if they leave the hydrocarbons in.

The interchangeability issue also has risen to the forefront as more regasified gas is expected to be introduced in the U.S. gas stream from LNG imports, prompting pipelines to fret about the impact of the Btu-rich gas on the integrity of their systems and LDCs to worry about the safety of regasified gas for end-use customers. There also are potential costs for industrial customers to modify their equipment to accept this gas. The key concern is the extent that LNG-sourced gas can replace conventional gas without unduly interfering with the operation of delivery systems and customers’ equipment and appliances.

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