[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 67 (Monday, April 7, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 18813]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-7007]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Antitrust Division


Notice Pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and 
Production Act of 1993--Cooperative Research Group on Development and 
Evaluation of a Gas Chromatograph Testing Protocol

    Notice is hereby given that, on March 6, 2008, pursuant to Section 
6(a) of the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, 
15 U.S.C. 4301 et seq. (``the Act''), Southwest Research Institute--
Cooperative Research Group on Development and Evaluation of a Gas 
Chromatograph Testing Protocol (``GCTP'') has filed written 
notifications simultaneously with the Attorney General and the Federal 
Trade Commission disclosing (1) the identities of the parties to the 
venture and (2) the nature and objectives of the venture. The 
notifications were filed for the purpose of invoking the Act's 
provisions limiting the recovery of antitrust plaintiffs to actual 
damages under specified circumstances.
    Pursuant to Section 6(b) of the Act, the identities of the parties 
to the venture are: ABE Inc., Totalflow Products, Bartlesville, OK; 
Chevron Pipeline, Houston, TX; Operations Technology Development, Des 
Plains, IL; Questar Gas Company, Salt Lake City, UT; KeySpan Energy, 
Hicksville, NY; APGA Research Foundation, Mesa, AZ; Southern California 
Gas Company, Los Angeles, CA; NiCor Gas, Naperville, IL; Consolidated 
Edison Company of New York Inc., New York, NY; Pacific Gas & Electric 
Co., Walnut Creek, CA; and TransCanada Pipelines Ltd, Calgary, Alberta, 
Canada.
    The general area of GCTP's planned activity is to develop a 
performance test protocol for gas chromatographs (``GCs'') used by the 
natural gas industry. A test procedure will be created and evaluated 
through tests of multiple brands of GCs in controlled experiments. 
Findings will be provided to the American Petroleum Institute for use 
in developing a test protocol for general use. The general protocol 
will help users in the natural gas industry to define test conditions 
for their own performance evaluations. With this protocol, industry 
users can select reliable and appropriate GCs for their own 
applications. The protocol may also be used to support acceptance of 
units by custody transfer parties and regulatory agencies, such as BLM, 
MMS, PHMSA, or state regulatory bodies. Membership in this research 
group remains open, and the participants intend to file additional 
written notification disclosing all changes in membership or planned 
activities.

Patricia A. Brink,
Deputy Director of Operations, Antitrust Division.
 [FR Doc. E8-7007 Filed 4-4-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-11-M