[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 74 (Wednesday, April 17, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18878-18880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-9282]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP02-141-000]


Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corporation; Notice of Application

April 11, 2002.
    Take notice that on April 4, 2002, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line 
Corporation (Transco), P. O. Box 1396, Houston, Texas 77251-1096, filed 
in Docket No. CP02-141-000 an application pursuant to Section 7(b) of 
the Natural Gas Act (NGA) and the rules and regulations of the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission), for an order permitting and 
approving the abandonment by sale of certain pipeline facilities known 
as the South Texas Pipeline Facilities located in onshore Texas in Bee, 
Brooks, DeWitt, Duval, Goliad, Hidalgo, Jackson, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, 
Kleberg, LaSalle, Live Oak, McMullen, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, 
Starr, Victoria, Wharton, Willacy, and Zapata Counties, all as more 
fully set forth in the application which is on file with the Commission 
and open to public inspection. The filing may be viewed on the web at 
http://www.rimsweb1.ferc.fed.us/rims.q?rp2~intro (call 202-208-2222 for 
assistance).
    Transco states that it proposes to abandon by sale to Enbridge 
Pipelines (Texas Intrastate) Inc. (Enbridge), an intrastate pipeline 
entity not affiliated with Transco, a 100 percent interest in the South 
Texas Pipeline Facilities. Transco requests that the Commission 
determine that, upon sale of the South Texas Pipeline Facilities to 
Enbridge, neither the facilities nor the services provided by Enbridge 
utilizing the facilities will be subject to the Commission's Natural 
Gas Act jurisdiction.
    Transco states that since its principal role is that of a 
transporter, it no longer requires its extensive gathering facilities 
to provide gas sales. Moreover, it states that most of its customers 
purchase gas at Transco's pooling points, not at the wellhead. As a 
result, Transco states that it has reevaluated its facilities and 
services in order to position itself to compete effectively as a 
transporter in this changed environment. Transco's states that it has 
determined to sell or spindown those facilities historically relied on 
primarily to perform a gas supply gathering function.
    Transco states that it thus offered for sale all of its onshore 
transmission and gathering facilities upstream of its station 30 
compressor station. According to Transco, while various parties 
submitted bids for portions of the assets being offered for sale, it 
determined that Enbridge's bid was the most attractive overall package. 
Transco notes that, in addition to its jurisdictional facilities, 
certain non-jurisdictional gathering laterals contiguous to the 
McMullen lateral portion of the South Texas Pipeline Facilities will be 
simultaneously transferred to Enbridge by WFS Gathering Company (WFS 
Gathering) and Goebel Gathering Company (Goebel), which are gathering 
affiliates of Transco. Additional, Transco states that WFS Gathering 
has already sold and transferred to Enbridge the non-jurisdictional 
facilities upstream of the Tilden Plant. Transco states that all of 
these non-jurisdictional facilities were spundown to WFS Gathering and 
Goebel by Transco pursuant to the Commission order authorizing the 
transfer in Docket No. CP98-236-000. It states that Enbridge is 
purchasing these gathering laterals according to separate Purchase and 
Sale Agreements with WFS Gathering and Goebel.
    Specifically, Transco states that it proposes to abandon by sale to 
Enbridge the following South Texas Pipeline Facilities:
    1. Mainline A from Mile Post 0.00 to Mile Post 258.40, which 
consists of 37.63 miles of 10-inch pipeline, 41.26 miles of 14-inch 
pipeline, 99.99 miles of 24-inch pipeline, and 79.49 miles of 26-inch 
pipeline;
    2. Station 20, located at Mile Post 170.25 on Mainline A near 
Refugio, Texas, which is a 8800 horsepower compressor station;
    3. Starr lateral and loop, which consists of 23.17 miles of 10-inch

[[Page 18879]]

pipeline and 10.10 miles of 20-inch pipeline;
    4. North Rucias lateral, which consists of 6.5 miles of 8-inch 
pipeline;
    5. Driscoll lateral, which consists of 10.86 miles of 6-inch 
pipeline and 22.35 miles of 8-inch pipeline;
    6. LaGloria lateral and loop, which consists of 4.53 miles of 10-
inch pipeline and 3.47 miles of 12-inch pipeline, respectively;
    7. McMullen lateral, which consists of 139.05 miles of 24-inch 
pipeline from Tilden Junction in McMullen County, Texas, to Station 30 
in Wharton County, Texas; and
    8. Several meter stations, valves, miscellaneous tie-in piping, and 
other related appurtenances along the above pipeline segments.
    Transco states that the South Texas Pipeline Facilities also 
include any other equipment, tangible personal property and related 
meter station facilities (but excluding all Excluded Property, as 
defined in the Purchase and Sale Agreement, attached as Exhibit U to 
the application), which is used by Transco in connection with the 
operation of the South Texas Pipeline Facilities.
    Transco states that it has agreed to sell its 100 percent interest 
in the South Texas Pipeline Facilities to Enbridge for $32.8 million. 
It states that the cost to Enbridge will compensate Transco for the 
total estimated net book value of the assets at the time of closing, 
including the unamortized balance of the purchase price that was 
assigned to these assets when Williams purchased Transco in 1995. 
Transco further states that closing of the sale of the facilities is 
contingent upon receipt of the a determination from the Commission that 
upon their sale to Enbridge, neither the facilities nor the services 
provided by Enbridge through the facilities will be subject to the 
Commission's Natural Gas Act jurisdiction.
    According to Transco, abandonment of the facilities will not 
require physical removal of any facilities. However, Transco states 
that it will make all necessary piping modifications and Enbridge will 
install the necessary metering equipment at Station 30 required to 
separate Enbridge's facilities from Transco's pipeline system. Transco 
further states that the abandonment will have no impact on the daily 
design capacity of, or operating conditions on, Transco's system.
    Transco contends that approval of the abandonment will enable 
Enbridge to further develop and grow its intrastate pipeline system in 
Texas to provide competitive gathering, transportation, and gas 
processing services, as well as greatly expand market access to the 
producers currently connected to both the South Texas Pipeline 
Facilities and the North Padre Island Lateral. It states that at the 
same time, approval will allow Williams to shed facilities which are no 
longer associated with its primary service functions, and will 
ultimately result in reduced costs for its customers by the removal of 
these facilities from the cost of service rate base.
    Transco states that Enbridge has represented that, after 
acquisition, it will use the South Texas Pipeline Facilities only for 
intrastate transportation or transportation pursuant to Section 
311(a)(1) of the Natural Gas Policy Action of 1978.
    Transco states that two of its customers (Sun Company, Inc. And 
Coastal Eagle Point Oil Company) are currently entitled to Part 284 
firm transportation service from certain receipt points that are 
proposed to be abandoned. In an effort to effectuate the transfer of 
facilities so that neither customer is adversely affected, Transco 
states that it and Enbridge and willing to offer alternative 
arrangements to the shippers to provide continued service. In that 
regard, Transco states that Enbridge is willing to offer continued 
service form these receipt points to Transco's Station 30 delivery 
point, pursuant to the terms and conditions of its Statement of General 
Terms and Conditions, which will be filed with the Texas Railroad 
Commission in the near future. Transco, therefore, seeks authorization 
to partially abandon service to Sun and Coastal under their existing FT 
service agreements by removing the affected receipt points that will no 
longer be available from Transco. It states that all other provisions 
of the FT service agreements would remain unaffected. Upon Commission 
authorization of its abandonment application, Transco states that it 
will amend the two firm service agreements to delete the affected 
receipt points.
    In addition to the two shippers noted above, Transco states that IT 
shippers on the North Padre Island Lateral will be required to make 
arrangements with Enbridge should they desire to sell their gas into 
the Transco markets at Station 30 or other points downstream.\1\ 
Transco contends that Enbridge has represented that continuing 
transportation service for these shippers will be available under the 
terms and conditions of its Statement of General Terms and Conditions, 
which will be filed with the Texas Railroad Commission in the near 
future. Transco states that Enbridge also anticipates that the 
additional markets it intends to attach to these assets through new 
construction and connection with its existing assets will offer new 
marketing opportunities for the North Padre Island shippers.
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    \1\ Transco states that there are currently six shippers on the 
North Padre Island Lateral: Cinergy Marketing and Trading, LLC, 
Coral Energy Resources, L.P., Dynegy Gas Transportation, Inc., 
Superior Natural Gas Corporation, Upstream Energy Services Company, 
and Transco Energy Marketing Company.
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    Transco further states that receipt and delivery points on nine 
certificate transportation X-rate schedule service agreements, which 
are no subject to pre-granted abandonment authorization, are also 
affected. According to Transco, there has been no gas flow recorded 
under any of these agreements since 1992. It states that upon 
abandonment and transfer of the facilities to Enbridge, the referenced 
receipt and delivery points will no longer be available to be used 
under the affected certificated agreements. Transco states that it has 
notified the affected parties in writing of its intent to terminate and 
abandon the certificated service. Transco requests abandonment 
authorization to the extent necessary to terminate services under the 
affected rate schedules and contracts.
    Any questions regarding this application should be directed to 
Gisela B. Cherches, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corporation, P. O. 
Box 1396, Houston, Texas 77251-1396 or call (713) 215-2000. In 
addition, Transco states that it will establish a toll-free telephone 
number so that interested parties can call with questions about the 
Momentum project.
    There are two ways to become involved in the Commission's review of 
this project. First, any person wishing to obtain legal status by 
becoming a party to the proceedings for this project should, on or 
before May 2, 2002, file with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 
888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, a motion to intervene 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 
NGA (18 CFR 157.10). A person obtaining party status will be placed on 
the service list maintained by the Secretary of the Commission and will 
receive copies of all documents filed by the applicant and by all other 
parties. A party must submit 14 copies of filings made with the 
Commission and must mail a copy to the applicant and to every other 
party in the proceeding. Only parties to the

[[Page 18880]]

proceeding can ask for court review of Commission orders in the 
proceeding.
    However, a person does not have to intervene in order to have 
comments considered. The second way to participate is by filing with 
the Secretary of the Commission, as soon as possible, an original and 
two copies of comments in support of or in opposition to this project. 
The Commission will consider these comments in determining the 
appropriate action to be taken, but the filing of a comment alone will 
not serve to make the filer a party to the proceeding. The Commission's 
rules require that persons filing comments in opposition to the project 
provide copies of their protests only to the party or parties directly 
involved in the protest.
    Comments, protests and interventions may be filed electronically 
via the Internet in lieu of paper. See, 18 CFR385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and 
the instructions on the Commission's web site under the ``e-filing'' 
link.
    If the Commission decides to set the application for a formal 
hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, the Commission will issue 
another notice describing that process. At the end of the Commission's 
review process, a final Commission order approving or denying the 
abandonment will be issued.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 02-9282 Filed 4-16-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P