Vacating

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Tuesday handed the energy industry a major victory by vacating and remanding an order that would require publicly traded producers to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) how much they pay foreign governments for the commercial development of oil, natural gas and minerals.

FERC issued an order Monday vacating certificate authority previously granted to NE Hub Partners in 1998 for a 6 Bcf high deliverability storage project in Pennsylvania (see Daily GPI, April 16, 1998). In April, NE Hub, which is now owned by Dominion Resources, requested that its certificate be vacated because the storage project is uneconomic and has no customers.

FERC issued an order Monday vacating certificate authority previously granted to NE Hub Partners in 1998 for a 6 Bcf high deliverability storage project in Pennsylvania (see Daily GPI, April 16, 1998). In April, NE Hub, which is now owned by Dominion Resources, requested that its certificate be vacated because the storage project is uneconomic and has no customers.

A federal appeals court, in vacating two FERC orders Friday, said the Commission had failed to offer a “reasoned explanation” of why it denied a proposal of Northern Natural Gas Co. to offer shippers an index-based discount rate that would fluctuate between the pipeline’s maximum rate ceiling and minimum rate floor in its tariff.

A federal appeals court, in vacating two FERC orders Friday, said the Commission had failed to offer a “reasoned explanation” of why it denied a proposal of Northern Natural Gas Co. to offer shippers an index-based discount rate that would fluctuate between the pipeline’s maximum rate ceiling and minimum rate floor in its tariff.