[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 94 (Friday, May 15, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 27081]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-12930]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. RM93-11-000]


Revisions to Oil Pipeline Regulations Pursuant to the Energy 
Policy Act of 1992; Notice of Annual Change in the Producer Price Index 
for Finished Goods, Minus One Percent

May 11, 1998.
    The Commission's regulations include a methodology for oil 
pipelines to change their rates through use of an index system that 
establishes ceiling levels for such rates. The index system as set 
forth at 18 CFR 342.3 is based on the annual change in the Producer 
Price Index for Finished Goods (PPI-FG), minus one percent. The 
regulations provide that each year the Commission will publish an index 
reflecting the final change in the PPI-FG, minus one percent, after the 
final PPI-FG is made available by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in May 
of each calendar year.
    The annual average PPI-FG index figure for 1996 was 131.3 and the 
annual average PPI-FG index figure for 1997 was 131.8.\1\ Thus, the 
percent change (expressed as a decimal) in the annual average PPI-FG 
from 1996 to 1997, minus one percent, is a negative .006192.\2\ Oil 
pipelines must multiply their July 1, 1997--June 30, 1998 rate ceiling 
levels by 0.993808 to compute their rate ceiling levels for the period 
July 1, 1998, through June 30, 1999, in accordance with 18 CFR 
342.3(d).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ The final figures for the annual average PPI-FG is published 
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in mid-May of each year. This 
figure is publicly available from the Division of Industrial Prices 
and Prices Indexes of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at (202) 606-
7705, and is available in print in August in Table 1 of the annual 
data supplement to the BLS publication Producer Price Indexes.
    \2\ [131.8--131.3]/131.3=.003808-.01=-.006192.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To obtain July 1, 1998--June 30, 1999 ceiling levels, pipelines 
must first calculate their ceiling levels for the January 1, 1995--June 
30, 1995 index period, by multiplying their December 31, 1994 rates by 
1.002175. Pipelines must then multiply those ceiling levels by 0.996415 
to obtain the July 1, 1995--June 30, 1996 ceiling levels, multiply the 
July 1, 1995--June 30, 1996 ceiling levels by 1.009124 to obtain the 
July 1, 1996--June 30, 1997 ceiling levels and multiply the July 1, 
1996-June 30, 1997 ceiling levels by 1.016583 to obtain the July 1, 
1997--June 30, 1998 ceiling levels. Finally, pipelines must multiply 
the July 1, 1997--June 30, 1998 ceiling levels by 0.993808 to obtain 
the July 1, 1998--June 30, 1999 ceiling levels. See Explorer Pipeline 
Company, 71 FERC para. 61,416 at n.6 (1995) for an explanation of how 
ceiling levels must be calculated.
David P. Boergers,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-12930 Filed 5-14-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M