[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 120 (Thursday, June 22, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32523-32524]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-15259]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Docket No. CP95-552-000, et al.]


Seagull Natural Gas Company, et al.; Natural Gas Certificate 
Filings

June 15, 1995.
    Take notice that the following filings have been made with the 
Commission:

1. Seagull Natural Gas Company

[Docket No. CP95-552-000]

    Take notice that on June 8, 1995, Seagull Natural Gas Company 
(Seagull), 1700 First City Tower, 1001 Fannan Street, Houston, Texas 
77002, filed a petition in Docket No. CP95-552-000, requesting that the 
Commission declare that its facilities extending from an offshore 
platform located in Brazos Area, Block 366, Offshore Texas to an 
onshore separation and dehydration facility located in Brazoria County, 
Texas are gathering facilities exempt from Commission jurisdiction 
pursuant to Section 1(b) of the Natural Gas Act, all as more fully set 
forth in the petition which is on file with the Commission and open to 
public inspection.
    Seagull states that it owns and operates a pipeline facility in 
offshore Texas waters known as the Brazos 366 Line, which consists of a 
12.86 mile, 8-inch line and a 0.13 mile, 4-inch line. It is indicated 
that the facility extends from a platform owned by Rutherford Oil and 
Gas Company in Brazos Area Block 366 to a separation and dehydration 
facility owned by Dow Hydrocarbons and Resources, Inc. (Dow) located 
approximately one mile onshore in Brazoria County, Texas. It is stated 
that the only pipeline connected to the tailgate of the Dow plant is an 
8-inch line owned by Dow.
    Seagull states that it uses the facility to gather gas production 
for others and to deliver those volumes to the Dow plant for separation 
and dehydration. It is also stated that, in addition to the gas 
produced from the Rutherford 366 Platform, the facility also transports 
gas produced from production platforms in Brazos Blocks 340, 375, and 
376 and gathered to the Rutherford 366 Platform through lines owned 
either by Seagull or producers. It is also stated that volumes produced 
from Brazos Block 444 are delivered to the facility at its approximate 
mid-point through producer-owned facilities. It is also stated that 
most of the gas moved through the facility is destined for Texas 
intrastate markets or interstate markets on behalf of two shippers 
pursuant to Section 311(a)(2) of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978. 
Seagull has stated that recently it has reevaluated the nature of the 
facility and the service it provides and concluded that the facility 
and the services it provides through that facility are gathering.
    In support of its claim that the primary function of the pipeline 
is gathering, Seagull indicates that the facility meets the gathering 
criteria set forth in Farmland Industries, Inc., 23 FERC para. 61.063 
(1983), as modified by later Commission orders, indicating the 
following:

Length and Diameter of the Line

    Seagull states that offshore lines of comparable and greater length 
and diameter, including a 45 to 60 mile, 14-inch diameter pipeline (see 
69 FERC para. 61,272 (1994)), have been characterized as gathering. It 
is also indicated that the location of the Seagull facility is solely a 
function of the location of the production in the Brazos area in 
relation to the Dow plant.

Location of Compressor and Processing Plants

    Seagull also states that it neither owns nor operates any 
compressors along the facility, and that the facility relies on 
wellhead pressure and any pressure generated from producer-owned 
compression located on the various platforms directly or indirectly 
connected to the facility. It is also indicated that the only plant 
near the facility is the Dow separation/dehydration facility located at 
the terminus of the facility.

Extension of the Facility Beyond the Central Point in the Field

    Seagull states that, because the facility is configured solely to 
deliver gas to the Dow plant from various producing platforms in the 
offshore Brazos area, there is no true central point in the field. 
Seagull concludes that the application of this factor in determining 
whether the facility is a gathering facility is inappropriate.

Location of Wells

    Seagull states that the facility is located in a prolific producing 
area and is designed to gather gas from various production platforms 
for delivery to a separation and dehydration facility. Seagull states 
that, although this criterion requires that wells be located along all 
or part of onshore facilities, the Commission has found that offshore 
facilities do not need to meet this requirement for the Commission to 
find that such facilities provide a gathering function. It is also 
noted that there is a field connection approximately at the facility's 
mid-point.

Geographic Configuration of the Facility

    Seagull states that the facility is a straight line gathering 
platform from various platforms for delivery to an onshore separation 
plant, a configuration similar to numerous other offshore systems 
previously determined to be gathering.

Operating Pressure

    Seagull states that the maximum operating pressure of the facility 
is 800 psig, and that the Commission has determined that other offshore 
facilities with much higher pressures are gathering facilities. 
[[Page 32524]] 

Primary Function

    Seagull indicates that the primary business purpose of owning and 
operating the facility is to gather gas that is owned by non-affiliated 
third-party producers in the offshore Brazos area for delivery to the 
Dow plant. It is also indicated that neither Seagull or any of its 
affiliates owns or purchases any of the gas gathered by the facility, 
and that neither Seagull or any of its affiliates owns or operates any 
facilities subject to the Commission's Natural Gas Act jurisdiction.
    Comment date: July 6, 1995, in accordance with the first paragraph 
of Standard Paragraph F at the end of this notice.

2. Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America

[Docket No. CP95-555-000]

    Take notice that on June 9, 1995, Natural Gas Pipeline Company of 
America (Natural) 701 East 22nd Street, Lombard, Illinois 60148, filed 
in Docket No. CP95-555-000 an application pursuant to Section 7(b) of 
the Natural Gas Act, as amended, and Sections 157.7 and 157.18 of the 
Commission's Regulations thereunder for permission and approval to 
abandon a natural gas exchange service with Columbia Gulf Transmission 
Company (Columbia Gulf) all as more fully set forth in the application 
on file with the Commission and open to public inspection.
    Natural proposes to abandon the exchange service between Natural 
and Columbia Gulf provided under Natural's Rate Schedule X-125. Natural 
states that pursuant to a gas transportation and exchange agreement 
(Agreement) between Natural and Columbia Gulf dated September 30, 1980, 
Natural made available for exchange up to 10,000 Mcf of natural gas per 
day to Columbia Gulf at Columbia Gulf's Pecan Island Plant located in 
Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. Natural explains that from Pecan Island, 
Columbia Gulf transported Natural's gas to Columbia Gulf's Rayne 
Compressor Station located in Acadia Parish, Louisiana at which point 
it became Columbia Gulf's by exchange. Natural further explains that 
Columbia Gulf then redelivered to Natural equivalent volumes of natural 
gas available to Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation at the outlet of 
Texaco Inc.'s Henry Plant located in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana.
    Natural states that by settlement agreement between Natural and 
Columbia Gulf dated May 15, 1995, Natural and Columbia Gulf agreed to 
terminate the Agreement (and Natural's Rate Schedule X-125 exchange 
service) through the payment of a negotiated exit fee by Natural to 
Columbia Gulf in consideration for Columbia Gulf's early termination 
and abandonment of, among other things, the transportation and exchange 
service performed under the exchange agreement.
    Comment date: July 6, 1995, in accordance with Standard Paragraph F 
at the end of this notice.
3. CNG Transmission Corporation

[Docket No. CP95-562-000]

    Take notice that on June 12, 1995, CNG Transmission Corporation 
(CNG), 445 West Main Street, Clarksburg, West Virginia 26301, filed in 
Docket No. CP95-562-000 an application pursuant to Section 7(b) of the 
Natural Gas Act for permission and approval to abandon by removal a 1.2 
mile segment of 6-inch diameter pipeline located in Tyler County, West 
Virginia, all as more fully set forth in the application on file with 
the Commission and open to public inspection.
    CNG states that the pipeline was installed by CNG's predecessor, 
Hope Natural Gas Company (Hope) in 1925 and authorized by the 
Commission under Hope's grandfather certificate in 1942 in Docket No. 
G-290. It is stated that the line was installed to provide service to a 
customer of Hope Gas, Inc. It is further stated that the pipeline 
segment had deteriorated and had to be closed off in May 1984, with the 
customer relocated to receive service from another line in the 
vicinity. It is asserted that the proposed abandonment would have no 
impact on service to any customer since the single customer being 
served has been relocated.
    Comment date: July 6, 1995, in accordance with Standard Paragraph F 
at the end of this notice.

Standard Paragraphs

    F. Any person desiring to be heard or to make any protest with 
reference to said application should on or before the comment date, 
file with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 
20426, a motion to intervene or a protest in accordance with the 
requirements of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (18 
CFR 385.214 or 385.211) and the Regulations under the Natural Gas Act 
(18 CFR 157.10). All protests filed with the Commission will be 
considered by it in determining the appropriate action to be taken but 
will not serve to make the protestants parties to the proceeding. Any 
person wishing to become a party to a proceeding or to participate as a 
party in any hearing therein must file a motion to intervene in 
accordance with the Commission's Rules.
    Take further notice that, pursuant to the authority contained in 
and subject to the jurisdiction conferred upon the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission by Sections 7 and 15 of the Natural Gas Act and 
the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, a hearing will be 
held without further notice before the Commission or its designee on 
this application if no motion to intervene is filed within the time 
required herein, if the Commission on its own review of the matter 
finds that a grant of the certificate and/or permission and approval 
for the proposed abandonment are required by the public convenience and 
necessity. If a motion for leave to intervene is timely filed, or if 
the Commission on its own motion believes that a formal hearing is 
required, further notice of such hearing will be duly given.
    Under the procedure herein provided for, unless otherwise advised, 
it will be unnecessary for applicant to appear or be represented at the 
hearing.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 95-15259 Filed 6-21-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P