In a reversal of its prior position, a federal appeals court has upheld FERC’s decision on remand reaffirming Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s switch in 1996 to the more competitive net-present-value (NPV) method for allocating pipeline capacity and primary receipt/delivery points on its system. Prior to 1996, the pipeline had offered capacity and primary points on a less competitive “first come, first-served” basis.
Reversal
Articles from Reversal
Weekend Prices Down Mostly in Vicinity of a Dime
Last week’s market closed out Friday with a reversal of the previous day’s mild rally in fairly quiet activity. A large majority of the weekend price declines were on either side of a dime, but a few ranged up to about 15 cents. Florida citygates recorded a modest gain of about a nickel.
El Paso Expects Reversal of ALJ Affiliate Ruling, or Small Fine
Financial analysts and El Paso Corp. executives greeted the long-awaited decision by FERC Chief ALJ Curtis Wagner Jr. last week in the high-profile big rigging and price manipulation case as extremely positive for El Paso, even though the judge didn’t completely exonerate the company.
El Paso Expects Reversal of ALJ Affiliate Ruling, or Small Fine
El Paso Corp. Chairman William Wise said Wednesday he was “absolutely convinced” FERC will overturn the ALJ ruling that found El Paso Natural Gas guilty of skirting the Commission’s affiliate standards when awarding transportation capacity on its system. But even if the agency doesn’t do this, he said it was unlikely that the company would be slapped with a major penalty.
Cash Market Gets Back on Downhill Slide
“It’s like prices are wandering aimlessly in the wilderness,”one trader remarked of Tuesday’s sharp reversal from the marketstrength that opened the week. All points were on the same downhillpage as declines ranged from about 15 cents to 90 cents but withmost of them clustered in the range of 30-50 cents.
East and West Swap Places in Price Change Trends
Monday’s market was a reversal of the price trends seen Friday:now it was the East getting softer while most of the West reboundedfrom its weekend declines.
Prices Fall as Expected, But Another Reversal Seen Today
The market was beginning to show more signs of volatilityWednesday, although the swings weren’t quite as wide-ranging asmost of those last week. Cash numbers fell by 10-15 cents at nearlyall points but were expected to rebound again today after futurestraders treated AGA’s afternoon storage report as bullish.
Koch’s Market-Based Rates Shot Down at FERC
In a reversal of an ALJ initial decision viewed as potentiallyprecedent-setting, FERC last week denied market-based rates fortransportation to Koch Gateway Pipeline after finding it fell farshort of substantiating its claim that it lacked market power. Itmarked the first time that the Commission had considered a requestfor market-based transportation rates on a major long-haul gaspipeline. In 1996, FERC approved similar rate authority for K NInterstate Gas Transmission’s Buffalo Wallow system, but thatinvolved short-haul transportation.
West Points Drop While East Surprisingly Firm
Last week’s trading wound up wound up with a reversal ofregional price trends. Whereas in the first couple of days of theweek Western points were recording gains while the stagnant Easternmarket was mostly flat to a little lower, the West was falling hardFriday but the East was flat to 2-3 cents higher. The Easternfirmness came as a surprise to some traders who had expected mildweather and the usual slump in weekend load to yield modest pricedeclines.