America

A large negotiated rate contract between Northern Natural andits affiliated Enron North America Corp. made it through FERCyesterday, but not without a promise of further regulatoryscrutiny. FERC accepted the deal, which covers about one-third ofNorthern’s firm space, on the condition that the pipeline submit adetailed explanation of how the various pricing options work. Thefollow-up review is based largely on a protest filed by Northernshipper GPM Gas.

Shippers on Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America (NGPL) havecalled on FERC to reject a tariff proposal that would hold the”party tendering gas” liable for damages to the pipeline’sfacilities and third-party facilities that are the result oflower-quality gas entering NGPL’s system. Many contend the proposedtariff change is much too vague.

Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America (NGPL) fears that corrective action ordered by FERC with respect to its auction practices, if construed improperly, could boomerang and potentially “nullify” the pipeline’s negotiated-rate authority and “aggravate” its decontracting problems.

Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America (NGPL) contends a FERCdecision that found a recent auction to be “unreasonable and undulypreferential” would “nullify” its negotiated-rate authority and”aggravate” its decontracting problems.

BP Amoco strengthened its position as North America’s No. 1 gasproducer through a $500 million deal to buy a significant part ofRepsol-YPF’s holding in Crescendo Resources, a major gas producerand processor in Texas and Oklahoma.

BP Amoco strengthened its position as North America’s No. 1 gasproducer through a $500 million deal to buy a significant part ofRepsol-YPF’s holding in Crescendo Resources, a major gas producerand processor in Texas and Oklahoma.

A recent capacity auction conducted by the Natural Gas PipelineCo. of America (NGPL) was “unreasonable and unduly preferential,”FERC said last week, but it refused to overturn the auction’sresults, as was requested by producers and marketers. It gave thepipeline the benefit of the doubt on this score, saying that NGPLhad “followed an arguable interpretation of its tariff,” which hadbeen approved by the Commission.

A recent capacity auction conducted by the Natural Gas PipelineCo. of America (NGPL) was “unreasonable and unduly preferential,”FERC said last week, but it refused to overturn the auction’sresults, as was requested by producers and marketers. It gave thepipeline the benefit of the doubt on the latter point, saying thatNGPL had “followed an arguable interpretation of its tariff,” whichhad been approved by the Commission.

FERC last week accepted the $34.5 million mega-negotiatedcontract between Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America (NGPL) andAquila Energy Marketing Corp., but there was a glitch. TheCommission’s acceptance was conditioned on the Midwest pipelineproviding a “satisfactory explanation” of why the transactiondoesn’t conflict with capacity-release rules and regulations, whichFERC suspects is the case.