[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 48 (Thursday, March 12, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 12082]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-6354]



[[Page 12082]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket Nos. RP98-39-001, RP98-40-002, RP98-42-001, RP98-44-001, RP98-
52-002, RP98-53-002, and RP98-54-002 (Not Consolidated)]


Northern Natural Gas Company, Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line 
Company, ANR Pipeline Company, El Paso Natural Gas Company, Williams 
Gas Pipelines Central, Inc., Formerly: Williams Natural Gas Company, KN 
Interstate Gas Transmission Company, and Colorado Interstate Gas 
Company; Notice of Extension of Time

March 6, 1998.
    On February 19, 1998, Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), Chevron 
U.S.A. Inc. (Chevron), Texaco Natural Gas Inc. (Texaco), and Vastar Gas 
Marketing, Inc. (VGM) (collectively: The Parties) jointly requested 
rehearing of the Commission's January 28, 1998 Order Clarifying 
Procedures in Docket No. RP98-39-001 et al. (82 FERC para. 61,059). The 
parties' request includes an emergency motion calling for the 
Commission to, among other things, postpone the March 9, 1998 Kansas ad 
valorem tax refund deadline to July 9, 1998. In this regard, The 
Parties note that El Paso Natural Gas Company (El Paso), with less than 
three weeks before the March 9, 1998 refund deadline, revised VGM's 
refund amount upward from $53,836.13 to approximately $4.5 million.
    Upon consideration, The Parties' request for an extension of the 
March 9, 1998 refund deadline is granted solely with respect to VGM's 
refund obligation to El Paso. That deadline is hereby extended to and 
including July 7, 1998, for VGM to make refunds to El Paso, in 
compliance with the Commission's September 10 and January 28, orders.
    The Parties also request that the Commission either excuse 
operators from refunding amounts attributable to working and royalty 
interest owners, or provide a 2-year period, beyond March 9, 1998, for 
first sellers to recover those amounts from the working and royalty 
interest owners.
    Upon consideration, ARCO, Chevron, Texaco, and VGM are granted a 6-
month extension for refunding amounts billed to them by the pipelines 
that are attributable to royalty interest owners. The Commission's May 
19, 1995 Letter Order in Docket No. GP95-6-000 (71 FERC para. 61,185), 
an earlier Kansas ad valorem tax proceeding involving Robert F. White, 
makes it clear that the Kansas ad valorem tax refund obligation of each 
first seller is limited to the extent of its working interest, 
including the royalty interests attributable to its working interest. 
Thus, no extension is required with respect to an operator's recovery 
of refunds attributable to working interest owners.
David P. Boergers,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-6354 Filed 3-11-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M