Promotion of a More Efficient Capacity Release Market

In this Final Rule the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission revises its regulations governing interstate natural gas pipelines to reflect changes in the market for short-term transportation services on pipelines and to improve the efficiency of the Commission's capacity release program. The Commission permits market based pricing for short- term capacity releases and facilitates asset management arrangements by relaxing the Commission's prohibition on tying and on its bidding requirements for certain capacity releases. The Commission further clarifies that its prohibition on tying does not apply to conditions associated with gas inventory held in storage for releases of firm storage capacity. Finally, the Commission waives its prohibition on tying and bidding requirements for capacity releases made as part of state-approved retail open access programs.