[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 230 (Wednesday, November 27, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Page 60273]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-30247]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Docket No. CP97-84-000]


PanEnergy Field Services, Inc.; Notice of Petition for 
Declaratory Order

November 20, 1996.
    Take notice that on November 5, 1996, PanEnergy Field Service, Inc. 
(Field Services),\1\ 370 Seventeenth Street, Suite 900, Denver, 
Colorado 80202, filed in Docket No. CP97-84-000 a petition pursuant to 
Section 16 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA), and Rule 207(a)(2) of the 
Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.207 (a)(2)), 
for a declaratory order disclaiming Commission jurisdiction over 
certain facilities to be acquired from Trunkline Gas Company 
(Trunkline),\2\ an affiliate, and the services provide through them, 
all as more fully set forth in the petition which is on file with the 
Commission and open to public inspection.
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    \1\ Field Services is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PanEnergy 
Corp, and owns gathering and processing assets in the states of 
Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New 
Mexico, Texas and Utah.
    \2\ Trunkline has filed a related abandonment application in 
Docket No. CP97-83-000.
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    Field Services seeks a declaratory order from the Commission 
finding that:
    (1) The Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast Facilities (Gulf Coast 
Facilities) described in Section VI and in Appendix B to its petition, 
including those facilities which are functionally gathering facilities 
but included on the accounting records of Trunkline as transmission, 
are or, upon transfer to Field Services, would be facilities used for 
the gathering of natural gas exempt from Commission jurisdiction under 
Section 1(b) of the NGA.
    (2) Field Services would not be a ``natural-gas company'' pursuant 
to Section 2(6) of the NGA by virtue of its proposed acquisition, 
ownership and operation of the facilities.
    (3) The gathering services that Field Services seeks to perform as 
described in Section VI and in Appendix B to its petition would be 
exempt from the Commission's jurisdiction under Section 1(b) of the 
NGA; and
    (4) Field Services' rates and changes for gathering services would 
not be subject to Sections 4 and 5 of the NGA.
    Field Services proposes to operate the Gulf Coast Facilities as a 
gas gatherer providing gathering and related services on an open-access 
basis to all customers. Field Services avers that it does not propose 
to engage in the sale or transportation of natural gas in any manner 
which would subject it to the Commission's jurisdiction under the NGA. 
Field Services is offering default contracts for firm and interruptible 
service to current shippers to provide for an orderly transition for 
those shippers; proforma copies of the contracts are attached in 
Appendix A to the petition. In addition, Field Services may seek to 
reconfigure certain facilities to be acquired from Trunkline to more 
efficiently incorporate them into Field Services' gathering activities 
as needed to provide the services required by producers and Trunkline's 
customers. With regard to the Gulf Coast Facilities, Field Services 
would provide supply aggregation, balancing, compression, metering, 
improve access to processing and alternative shipping arrangements into 
other pipelines and other markets, thereby aligning contracts, costs, 
services, and charges in a rational and financially sound manner. Field 
Services states that it would not become an ``affiliated marketer'' as 
defined by the Commission in its rules. Field Services further states 
that its goal is to expand and improve the quality of gathering related 
service available to existing and future producers and shippers.
    Any person desiring to be head or to make any protest with 
reference to said petition should on or before December 11, 1996, 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 384.214 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
Lois D. Cashell,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-30247 Filed 11-26-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M