By OGJ editors
WASHINGTON, DC, Apr. 14 -- The US Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service Tuesday solicited industry and others for advice as it considers amending offshore oil and gas pipeline access rules.
Comments are due June 11 to MMS. The agency also plans a series of public meetings over the next 30 days in Houston, Washington, DC, and New Orleans.
Last October, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit found that MMS, rather than the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has the authority to require data submittals for certain natural gas pipelines in the Outer Continental Shelf; the judges indicated MMS might be the most appropriate federal regulator for some offshore pipeline access issues.
The FERC regulations that the court held invalid required owners of OCS gas pipelines to file information indicating the rates the pipelines charged, the conditions of the service they provided, and whether they were affiliated with any of the shippers using their pipelines. The FERC regulations also addressed OCS natural gas facilities that perform production or "gathering" functions, and do not fall within FERC's jurisdiction under the Natural Gas Act of 1938, MMS said in an Apr. 12 Federal Register notice.
"We encourage the public and other interested parties to participate in planned public meetings and to provide comments and suggestions to help us clearly define changes to the appropriate MMS programs and regulations that may be necessary," MMS said.
MMS said it is interested in determining "the scope, magnitude, and seriousness of any instances where access or discrimination problems were encountered by service providers or shippers of natural gas, both for lines that do not operate under the jurisdiction of the NGA and those that do."
Shipper hotline suggested
Further, the agency is interested in whether the lack of NGA regulatory oversight has had or might have potential positive or negative impacts. MMS wants to know the circumstances under which a service provider would deny service to a shipper.
"We solicit comments from any party that feels it has been denied open and nondiscriminatory access to pipelines on the OCS, and suggestions for actions that could have been taken or should be taken to prevent this from happening," MMS said.
MMS suggested that a record of access issues that arise between shippers and service providers would help the agency gain a better perspective on the need for a regulatory framework to ensure open and nondiscriminatory pipeline access. To that end, MMS is giving consideration to establishing a hotline that could be used by both shippers and service providers to report concerns and perceived instances of open and nondiscriminatory access violations.
"A hotline could be one way for MMS to document relevant complaints that occur," MMS said.
