Without admitting any wrongdoing, National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. last week entered into a consent agreement with FERC enforcement authorities to settle charges that the interstate pipeline gave preferential treatment to certain select customers, including its natural gas marketing affiliate, from 1999 through mid-2002.

The consent deal, which the Commission approved last Monday, called for National Fuel Gas Supply to implement a “detailed” three-year plan to ensure the pipeline’s compliance with the agency’s standards of conduct for regulated companies, and to pay $300,000 to cover the costs of FERC’s audit and investigation of the company [IN02-3, FA01-8].

Beginning in 1999, the agreement said National Fuel Gas began emailing information on its operationally available pipeline capacity to a large group of select shippers, including affiliate National Fuel Resources Inc., in advance of posting the information to its web site. The list of email recipients included approximately 60 shippers, it noted.

FERC enforcement authorities said the pipeline stopped the practice in June 2002. “Since July 2002, [National Fuel Gas] has posted daily to its web site the information regarding its operationally available capacity ‘before’ sending emails containing such information. Moreover, the information contained in the emails is identical to the information that is posted on the web site,” according to the FERC order approving the agreement.

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