Integrity

The integrity of natural gas price reporting and price indices is “extremely important,” said the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), last week, but it is up to Congress to determine if any new rules are required to govern price reporting practices. However, Chairman James Newsome added he has “yet to see anything” that changes his belief that the commission and other regulatory agencies already possess the tools to address any misconduct that may occur.

Calling the integrity of natural gas price reporting and price indices “extremely important,” the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said he believes it is up to Congress to determine if any new rules are required to govern price reporting practices. However, Chairman James Newsome added he has “yet to see anything” that changes his belief that the commission and other regulatory agencies already possess the tools to address any misconduct that may occur.

Coordinating it with other projects going on in the area, Sonat began pipeline integrity work Tuesday on the 16-inch LRC Interconnect Line. The project is expected to run through Monday, during which Sonat will be unable to accept nominations at the Sabine bidirectional interconnect point codes (605200 and 605210) and at the NGPL interconnect point codes (663200 and 663210).

BP CEO Sir John Browne said in a speech last week in London that his company no longer would make political contributions anywhere in the world. He said BP’s policy shift reflects a desire to help preserve, or perhaps restore, the “legitimacy” of the political process and of governments around the world, but particularly in the United States, which is where most of BP’s political donations have been directed.

BP’s CEO Sir John Browne said in a speech Wednesday in London that his company no longer would make political contributions anywhere in the world. He said BP’s policy shift reflects a desire to help preserve, or perhaps restore, the “legitimacy” of the political process and of governments around the world, but particularly in the United States, which is where most of BP’s political donations have been directed.

Saying its storage pools are full and customers are overdelivering gas into its system, Dominion has implemented an OFO to protect its system integrity. The order affects all customers under Rate Schedules FT, FTNN, IT and MCS.

El Paso reported Friday its system integrity was threatened byhigh linepack and it was making maximum injections at theWashington Ranch storage facility. The pipeline said it had imposedcustody limits at delivery points that are not taking scheduledquantities, and if necessary will limit overdeliveries at receiptpoints.

Saying it is experiencing a shortage of receipts at itsMarshfield, WI, interconnect with Viking that may threaten itssystem integrity, ANR issued an OFO for the point that takes effecttoday. All firm shippers nominating MDQ (Maximum Daily Quantity)with Marshfield as a receipt point must keep their nominations atthose levels until further notice, and all firm shippers nominatingless than MDQ at Marshfield must raise their volumes to MDQ levels.Any firm shipper nominating Marshfield as a delivery point may notincrease volumes until further notice.

Fearing a weekend threat to system integrity from oversupply,Sonat implemented an OFO Type 6 effective Saturday (July 25) untilfurther notice. The OFO carries tiered penalties of up to $15/dthfor positive imbalances exceeding 8% of allocated deliveries.