[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 102 (Thursday, May 26, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33521-33522]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-12423]
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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
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 Commission bases the
index system, found at 18 CFR 342.3, on the annual change in the
Producer Price Index for Finished Goods (PPI-FG), plus one point two
three percent (PPI-FG + 1.23). The Commission determined in an Order
Establishing Index Level,\1\ issued December 17, 2015, that PPI-FG +
1.23 is the appropriate oil pricing index factor for pipelines to use
for the five-year period commencing July 1, 2016.
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\1\ 153 FERC ] 61,312 at P 52 (2015).
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The regulations provide that the Commission will publish annually,
an index figure reflecting the final change in the PPI-FG, after the
Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the final PPI-FG in May of each
calendar year. The annual average PPI-FG index figures were 200.4 for
2014 and 193.9 for 2015.\2\ Thus, the percent change (expressed as a
decimal) in the annual average PPI-FG from 2014 to 2015, plus 1.23
percent, is negative 0.020135.\3\ Oil pipelines must multiply their
July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016, index ceiling levels by positive
0.979865 \4\ to compute their index ceiling levels for July 1, 2016,
through June 30, 2017, in accordance with 18 CFR 342.3(d). For guidance
in calculating the ceiling levels for each 12-month period beginning
January 1, l995,\5\ see Explorer Pipeline Company, 71 FERC ] 61,416 at
n.6 (1995).
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\2\ Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes the final figure
in mid-May of each year. This figure is publicly available from the
Division of Industrial Prices and Price Indexes of the BLS, at 202-
691-7705, and in print in August in Table 1 of the annual data
supplement to the BLS publication Producer Price Indexes via the
Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ppi/home.htm. To obtain the BLS data,
scroll down to ``PPI Databases'' and click on ``Top Picks'' of the
Commodity Data including ``headline'' FD-ID indexes (Producer Price
Index--PPI). At the next screen, under the heading ``Producer Price
Index Commodity Data,'' select the box, ``Finished goods--
WPUFD49207,'' then scroll to the bottom of this screen and click on
Retrieve data.
\3\ [193.9 - 200.4]/200.4 =-0.032435 + 0.0123 = -0.020135.
\4\ 1-0.020135 = 0.979865.
\5\ For a listing of all prior multipliers issued by the
Commission, see the Commission's Web site, http://www.ferc.gov/industries/oil/gen-info/pipeline-index.asp.
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In addition to publishing the full text of this Notice in the
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an
opportunity to view and/or print this Notice via the Internet through
FERC's Home Page (http://www.ferc.gov) and in FERC's Public Reference
Room during normal business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time)
at 888 First Street NE., Room 2A, Washington, DC 20426. The full text
of this Notice is available on FERC's Home Page at the eLibrary link.
To access this document in eLibrary, type the docket number excluding
the last three digits of this document in the docket number field and
follow other directions on the search page.
User assistance is available for eLibrary and other aspects of
FERC's
[[Page 33522]]
Web site during normal business hours. For assistance, please contact
the Commission's Online Support at 1-866-208-3676 (toll free) or 202-
502-6652 (email at [email protected]), or the Public Reference
Room at 202-502-8371, TTY 202-502-8659. E-Mail the Public Reference
Room at [email protected].
Dated: May 19, 2016.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-12423 Filed 5-25-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P