Regulations Governing the Conduct of Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) generally reaffirms its determinations in Order No. 2005. Order No. 2005 establishes requirements governing the conduct of open seasons for proposals to construct Alaska natural gas transportation projects, including procedures for allocation of capacity. Pursuant to the directive of section 103(e)(2) of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Act, enacted on October 13, 2004, the regulations promulgated in Order No. 2005 include the criteria for and timing of any open season, promote competition in the exploration, development, and production of Alaska natural gas, and for any open seasons for capacity exceeding the initial capacity, provide for the opportunity for the transportation of natural gas other than from the Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson units. In this order, the Commission addresses the requests for rehearing and/or clarification of Order No. 2005. Here, we grant rehearing in part, deny rehearing in part, and provide clarification of Order No. 2005. In specific, we: Clarify that the Commission may require design changes necessary to ensure that some portion of a proposed voluntary expansion will be allocated to new shippers or shippers seeking to transport gas from areas other than Prudhoe Bay or Point Thomson, provided such shippers are willing to sign qualifying long-term firm transportation agreements; codify the expanded criteria for evaluating late bids for capacity and the requirement that any late bid contain a good faith showing; in the case of the mandatory pre-review, codify that the plan to be filed by the Commission must contain the open season notice, and eliminates the 30-day prior notice requirement; discuss how the open season rules may apply to jurisdictional gas treatment plants; clarify that capacity bid for the open season is exempt from allocation only in a case where there is also presubscribed capacity, and that in the event there are more than one pre- subscription agreement, bidders i