It`s time for a new sheriff, or why states should regulate gas gathering

Journal Article · Sun Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997 · Natural Resources and Environment

OSTI ID:478387

Graves, C L

It used to be so simple. Producers of natural gas sold their gas to the nearest interstate pipeline. Interstate pipelines bought, processed, transported, and then sold enough natural gas to meet their large long-term supply contracts with local distribution companies (LDCs) and the occasional industrial customer. LDCs signed long-term supply contracts with several interstate pipelines and then resold the gas to captive residential, commercial, and industrial customers. And finally, individual customers just picked up the phone, called the LDC, and told it to turn on the gas. Now, all that has changed. Thanks to sweeping legislative and regulatory polices flowing from Washington, the natural gas industry has undergone dramatic change. Today, most industrial customers can purchase their natural gas supplies directly from producers and marketers, bypassing their LDC. Interstate pipelines no longer perform the merchant function of the past. Instead, pipelines have restructured their businesses to offer their customers only the specific services they request. As a result, where a single pipeline company once offered integrated services from wellhead to burner tip, gathering affiliates, processing subsidiaries, transmission companies and marketing affiliates now focus on separate aspects of the natural gas supply business. Changes in operations have preceded or followed change in regulation. The change in regulation of gathering natural gas, however, has gone almost unnoticed among these revolutionary changes. This article discusses the future of these regulations and their legal and political aspects.

• OSTI ID: 478387
• Journal Information: Natural Resources and Environment, Journal Name: Natural Resources and Environment Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 11; ISSN 0882-3812; ISSN NRENEL
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
ENERGY SOURCE DEVELOPMENT
LICENSING REGULATIONS
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
NATURAL GAS
STATE GOVERNMENT