Practices

Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America’s (NGPL) interpretation of aNovember order addressing its auctioning practices was dead wrong,FERC said last week in denying the pipeline’s request forrehearing.

Analyzing and following industry “best practices” can helponshore gas producers reduce operating costs and achieve greateroperating efficiency. Two studies recently completed by Ziff EnergyGroup suggest producers in South Texas and the Midcontinent can dowell by turning to their peers for advice.

In the view of local distribution companies, standardization canbe a good thing if it streamlines business practices. However,standardization efforts that ignore the uniqueness of individualLDCs, their customers and the states and markets they operate inare unacceptable. LDCs’ view of GISB and its standards is onereason cited for flagging LDC involvement in the standardsorganization.