A
Abandonment
Synonym:
Definition: Generally, under section 7 (b) of the Natural Gas Act,
natural gas companies must obtain FERC's permission
before terminating or abandoning all or any part of
an interstate sale for resale or transportation service
or the facilities used to render those services.
Absolute Pressure
See Pressure, Absolute
Acid Gas Percentage
Synonym:
Definition: Canadian term referring to a gas stream's carbon
dioxide and hydrogen sulphide content on a mole volume
basis.
Acknowledgement
Synonym: Confirmed nomination
Definition: A mutually agreed upon notice given between parties to
finalize nominations.
Adjusted Productive Capacity
Synonym: Supply Tracking
Definition: The estimated productive capacity at any given point in
time, carrying forward for future use any productive
capacity resulting from an earlier excess of productive
capacity over production.
Affiliated Marketer
Synonym:
Definition: Marketing company owned either by an interstate pipeline
or by a parent corporation that also owns an interstate
pipeline. May also be owned by an LDC.
Affiliated Entities Test
Synonym:
Definition: A test administered by FERC to determine if the amount
a pipeline pays to a producer affiliated with a pipeline
exceeds that paid to non-affiliated producers.
Agent
Synonym: Seller, Buyer or Shipper Representative
Definition: A legal representative of buyers, sellers or shippers of
natural gas in negotiation or operations of contractual
agreements.
Allocation, Capacity
Synonym: Nomination Allocation
Definition: A process by which capacity available in a pipeline is
distributed to parties in the event requests for volume
(i.e., nominations and service contract requests) are in
excess of the available capacity. Typical allocations
are based on criteria such as service type, contract
type, cost of service and date of first deliveries, all
as specified in the pipeline's tariff.
Allocation Formula
Synonym:
Definition: The method used to allocate the total estimated or
actual flow at a custody transfer point. The method
should be determined prior to gas flow. Methods
include: prorata to all shippers based on confirmed
nominations; utilize a swing contract for all over and
under volumes; record all production in excess of
confirmed nominations in a suspense account for future
nomination with the operator; use a balancing agreement
to record all volumes over and under the confirmed
nomination at the point of custody transfer.
Allocation, Measurement
Synonym:
Definition: The assignment of a total measured quantity of gas at a
point to the various contracts active at that point
during a specific period of time.
Allocation Methods
Synonym:
Definition: Balancing Agreement - A method whereby all shippers are
guaranteed confirmed nominations at the meter and any
variance between the aggregate confirmed nominations and
measured volumes held between the interconnecting
parties.
Entitlement - This method utilizes production ownership
as the basis for allocation at production
points with multiple ownership and/or
property specific contract commitments.
Prorata - A method that involves the allocation of
actual pipeline receipts to all shippers
strictly on the basis of confirmed
nominations, with all shippers receiving a
prorata share of any over or under volumes
measured through the meter.
Suspense - The suspense method provides for the
allocation of measured volumes only in excess
of confirmed nominations. Shippers are
allocated exactly the confirmed nomination
and the excess production is held in a
suspense account for future resolution.
Swing - A designated party(ies) is identified to take
the "swing" at a meter point; that is, any
variance between the aggregate confirmed
nominations and measured volume. A swing method
differs from a balancing method in that the
imbalance is assigned to the pipeline and
shipper(s) as opposed to interconnecting
parties.
Allocation of Costs
Synonym:
Definition: Cost Allocation is the process of allocating the
Functionalized/Classified Costs to each customer service
provided by the pipeline using allocation units or
factors such as demand volume, throughput and distance.
Allocation, Sales
Synonym: Curtailment
Definition: The process by which a seller assigns supplies to
purchasers when total sales requests exceed the seller's
total supply. Priorities typically based on contract
type and price.
Allocation Units/Factors
Synonym:
Definition: Factors used in the Toll Design Calculation to allocate
costs to various services (e.g., demand volume
throughput and distance).
Allowables
Synonym:
Definition: The permitted rate of production from a well or group of
wells that is allowed by a particular state or governing
body. The rate is set by rules which vary among the
various states or governing bodies.
Annual Quantity Entitlement
Synonym: AQE, Annual Contract Quantity (ACQ)
Definition: The quantity of gas a buyer or shipper has nominated to
receive on an annual basis from a pipeline.
American National Standards Institute
Synonym: ANSI
Definition: The coordinating organization for America's federated
national standards system. The ANSI federation consists
of nine hundred companies, large and small, and some two
hundred trade, technical, professional, labor and
consumer organizations.
American National Standards Institute X12 Committee
Synonym: ANSI X12
Definition: The committee sanctioned by ANSI for developing and
maintaining U.S. standards for business-to- business
electronic data interchange pertaining to trade
transactions, with business-to-business defined broadly
to include all organizations, but excluding all
individual consumers.
Application
Synonym:
Definition: A formal request made by a utility to change rates or
condition of service, which requires hearing before a
regulatory body.
Area Rate Clause
Synonym: Escalator, Indefinite Price Escalator
Definition: A contract provision that allows for increases in the
price paid for gas over the term of the agreement if gas
rates in the production area escalate.
As-Billed Rates
Synonym:
Definition: A policy allowing pipelines to flow through gas costs to
their customers in the same manner as they are billed to
the pipeline. (For example, demand charges paid by the
pipeline would be included in demand charges billed to
its customer; commodity charges would be flowed through
in the same way.) Currently Canadian suppliers want to
flow their charges through to U.S. customers on an
"as-billed" basis. FERC has declared those charges
should be billed to U.S. customers using U.S. ratemaking
formulas (FERC Opinion 256). U.S. producers think the
"as-billed" treatment gives Canadian gas an unfair
competitive advantage by loading up the demand charge
and cutting commodity rates, while Canadians argue that
the rate is based on contractual agreements worked out
years ago - agreements based on the cost of building
facilities in Canada to serve the U.S. market.
Associated Gas
Synonym: Solution Gas
Definition: Natural gas found in contact with or dissolved in crude
oil in the reservoir. Can be further categorized as
(1)Gas Cap Gas which is free natural gas, which overlies
and is in contact with crude oil in the reservoir and
(2) Solution Gas which is natural gas dissolved in crude
oil in the reservoir at the prevailing conditions of
pressure and temperature.
Associated Liquids
Synonym: Natural Gas Liquids, NGLs - Byproducts
Definition: Condensates (liquid hydrocarbons without free water)
such as propane or butane produced in conjunction with
the production of gas or liquefiable hydrocarbons
contained in such gas. Does not contain oil.
Authorized Overrun (See Overrun, Authorized)
Average Rate
Synonym: System Average Rate
Definition: The total dollars of utility costs divided by the total
number of therms or gigajoules of gas sold.