FERC Issues Order on Petition for Waiver by North Baja, Shell, and Gazprom
On July 23, 2009, FERC issued an order granting in part a petition for a waiver of certain capacity release requirements filed by North Baja Pipeline, Shell Energy North America, and Gazprom. The petition specifically sought a waiver to permit Shell to release some of its firm transportation capacity on North Baja to Gazprom at Shell’s negotiated rate. The capacity would be used to transport volumes of regasified LNG from the Costa Azul LNG terminal in Mexico.
FERC granted the request for waiver with regard to the portion of Shell’s capacity that would be permanently released to Gazprom. FERC concluded that to impose a posting and bidding requirement for a permanent release would “unnecessarily inhibit the use of permanent release to transfer capacity the releasing shipper no longer needs or wants.” FERC denied the request for a waiver for Shell’s capacity that would only be released temporarily because it was not at the maximum tariff rate. FERC’s order can be found in the FERC e-Library under Docket No. RP09-779.