[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 188 (Thursday, September 29, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-24120]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: September 29, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
18 CFR Part 284
[Docket No. RM93-4-004; Order No. 563-C]
Standards for Electronic Bulletin Boards Required Under Part 284
of the Commission's Regulations
Issued September 23, 1994.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.
ACTION: Final rule; Order Accepting Modifications to the Transaction
Point Common Code Data Base.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is
issuing an order making changes to the transaction point common code
data base. The Commission's order revises its ``Standardized Data Sets
and Communication Protocols,'' available at the Commission's Public
Reference and Files Maintenance Branch, to add three additional fields
to improve the clarity of the data and the management of the data base.
DATES: This order was issued on September 23, 1994.
ADDRESSES: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 825 North Capitol
Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Michael Goldenberg, Office of the General Counsel, Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, 825 North Capitol Street, NE., Washington, DC
20426, (202) 208-2294
Marvin Rosenberg, Office of Economic Policy, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 825 North Capitol Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202)
208-1283
Brooks Carter, Office of Pipeline and Producer Regulation, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, 825 North Capitol Street, NE.,
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 208-0292
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In addition to publishing the full text of
this document in the Federal Register, the Commission also provides all
interested persons an opportunity to inspect or copy the contents of
this document during normal business hours in Room 3104, 941 North
Capitol Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.
The Commission Issuance Posting System (CIPS), an electronic
bulletin board service, provides access to the texts of formal
documents issued by the Commission. CIPS is available at no charge to
the user and may be accessed using a personal computer with a modem by
dialing (202) 208-1397. To access CIPS, set your communications
software to use 300, 1200, or 2400 bps, full duplex, no parity, 8 data
bits, and 1 stop bit. CIPS can also be accessed at 9600 bps by dialing
(202) 208-1781. The full text of this notice will be available on CIPS
for 30 days from the date of issuance. The complete text on diskette in
WordPerfect format may also be purchased from the Commission's copy
contractor, La Dorn Systems Corporation, also located in Room 3104, 941
North Capitol Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.
Order Accepting Modifications to the Transaction Point Common Code
Data Base
Before Commissioners: Elizabeth Anne Moler, Chair; Vicky A.
Bailey, James J. Hoecker, William L. Massey, and Donald F. Santa,
Jr.
On July 29, 1994, the Electronic Bulletin Board (EBB) Working Group
submitted proposed modifications to the transaction point common code
data base that the Commission had accepted in Order No. 563.\1\ The
Commission hereby adopts the proposed modifications, with one exception
discussed below.
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\1\Standards for Electronic Bulletin Boards Required Under Part
284 of the Commission's Regulations, Order No. 563, 59 FR 516 (Jan.
5, 1994), III FERC Stats. & Regs. Preambles 30,988 (Dec. 23, 1993),
order on reh'g, Order No. 563-A, 59 FR 23624 (May 6, 1994), III FERC
Stats. & Regs. Preambles 30,994 (May 2, 1994), reh'g denied, Order
No. 563-B, 68 FERC 61,002 (1994).
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On December 23, 1993, the Commission issued a Final Rule in this
proceeding requiring pipelines to implement standards and protocols
relating to the electronic dissemination of information. The standards
and protocols accepted by the Commission reflected agreements reached
by industry Working Groups consisting of members from all segments of
the gas industry. The standards and protocols are described in a
document entitled ``Standardized Data Sets and Communication
Protocols,'' available at the Commission's Public Reference and Files
Maintenance Branch.
In the Final Rule, the Commission accepted a consensus approach for
developing a common code data base that would identify pipeline
transaction points, such as receipt and delivery points. Under the
accepted approach, pipelines were required to provide the Petroleum
Information Corporation (PI) with information on their transaction
points, and PI then would prepare a computerized data base cross-
referencing the pipelines' proprietary codes for identifying
transaction points with a discrete common code assigned to each point.
The data base is to be available by November 1, 1994.\2\ The data sets
summarizing the information to be included in the common code data base
were included in the Standardized Data Sets and Communication Protocols
adopted by the Commission.
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\2\The Commission, however, did provide that pipelines that do
not maintain the geographic location of receipt points in an easily
accessible form may request an extension until May 1, 1995, to
complete the process of confirming their points to PI.
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In the Final Rule, the Commission recognized that the EBB
standardization efforts would be an on-going process that required a
flexible procedure for making timely revisions or modifications to the
standards and protocols as the industry obtained experience with them
and at the same time preserved the opportunity for the industry to
comment on proposed changes. The Commission adopted a process in which
the industry Working Groups would file their proposed changes with the
Commission, and the filing would then be noticed with an opportunity
for the industry to file comments.
On July 29, 1994, the industry Working Group filed a consensus
proposal to modify the data sets for the common code data base by
adding three new fields: ``facility type,'' which provides a standard
text description of the facility; ``transaction code,'' which informs
users whether a record is an addition, change, or deletion; and ``data
reference number,'' which is a unique number that identifies each data
base record. The Working Group states that the addition of these fields
will improve the clarity of the data and the management of the data
base.
Public notice of the Working Group filing was issued on August 4,
1994, with comments due by August 15, 1994. The notice further provided
that issues relating to these proposed changes could be raised at an
EBB conference to be held on August 11, 1994.
No comments have been received regarding the proposed changes, and
the Commission will accept them to be implemented according to the
schedule established in Order Nos. 563 and 563-A.\3\ The ``Standardized
Data Sets and Communication Protocols'' will be modified accordingly
and made available at the Commission's Public Reference and Files
Maintenance Branch.
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\3\The complete data set is contained in Appendix A. The
Commission notes that, for informational purposes, the Working Group
attached to its July 29, 1994 report a copy of Table 1 of its
October 12, 1993 filing showing the data sets it initially proposed.
That table lists the point locator field as optional. However, in
Order No. 563, the Commission required the point locator field to be
mandatory. Order No. 563, III FERC Stats. & Regs. Preambles at
31,014; Order No. 563-A, III FERC Stats. & Regs. Preambles at
31,046. Accordingly, the point locator field in the attached
appendix is listed as mandatory in conformity with the requirements
of Order Nos. 563 and 563-A.
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The Commission orders:
The data sets in Appendix A are accepted to be implemented
according to the schedule established in Order Nos. 563 and 563-A.
By the Commission.
Lois D. Cashell,
Secretary.
Appendix A
Common Code Data Set for Gas Transaction Points
[I. Data Elements of the Gas Transaction Point Common Code Record]
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Line No. Field name Description of field Status Data type and explanation
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1. Owner/operator name...... The legal name of entity that M A Text field provided by the
owns and/or operates the owner/operator that is
transaction point. responsible for conducting
business at the point.
2. Owner/Operator Company The company code of the entity M An alpha-numeric field
Code. that owns/operates the gas containing a code that
transaction point. uniquely identifies the
owner/operator of the point.
3. Point Code............... The code assigned by the owner/ M An alpha-numeric field
operator to the transaction containing the point code
point. for the gas transaction
point that is used by the
owner/operator.
4. Point type indicator..... An indicator for the type of M A positive integer field
facility at the point. For containing codes to identify
example, ``01'' could the type of facilities
indicate an interconnect. located at gas transaction
points. (These codes will be
developed on a consensus
basis between the Code
Assignor and the Data
Provider).
5. Flow indicator........... An indicator to determine the C A single position alpha field
direction of gas flow in the that would be completed only
case of interconnects and if the point type indicator
storage: R=receipt or flow of the facility is either an
into the pipeline only interconnect or storage
D=delivery or flow out of the facility.
pipeline only B=both receipt
and delivery.
6. Point name............... The name assigned to the point M A text field provided by the
by the owner/operator. owner/operator of the gas
transaction point.
7. State.................... The state in which the gas M A text field containing the
transaction point is located. name of the state.
8. County................... The county in which the gas M A text field containing the
transaction point is located. name of the county.
9. Point Locator............ A unique locator for the M An alpha-numeric field
transaction point. containing the geographic
coordinates, survey
coordinates or pipeline line
number and mile marker.
10. Up/downstream entity name The name of the entity that O A text field containing the
controls capacity upstream or legal name of the entity
downstream of the point, that owns/operates the
e.g., at an interconnect. facility that is either
upstream or downstream from
the point. This field would
be completed only if the
information is available.
11. Up/downstream point name. The point name as assigned by O A text field provided by the
the entity that controls owner/operator of the gas
capacity upstream or transaction point. This
downstream of the gas field would be completed
transaction point, e.g., at only if the information is
an interconnect. available.
12. Up/downstream point code. The point code as assigned by O An alpha-numeric/numeric code
the entity that controls assigned by the up/
capacity upstream or downstream owner/operator
downstream of the gas that uniquely defines the
transaction point, e.g., at gas transaction point. This
an interconnect. field would be completed
only if the information is
available.
13. Joint ownership indicator An indicator to determine if M A single-position alpha field
the point has joint owners: to alert the common Code
Y=yes N=no. Assignor that other Data
Providers might be reporting
this point.
14. Non-operator point....... An indicator to determine if M An alpha-numeric field to
the point is operated by indicate whether the gas
another party, other than the transaction point is
Data Provider: Y=yes, N=no. operated by a party other
than Data Provider.
15. Point common Code........ A standard common code to be M An alpha-numeric field
assigned by the Code Assignor containing the common code
to uniquely identify the gas that is assigned by the Code
transaction point. Assignor.
16. Confirmation code........ A code to indicate the current M A single-position alpha field
status of the common code. that contains either a
The code would be ``Pending'' P=``Pending,''
(P) if the transaction point V=``Verified,'' D=``Declined
data is waiting for To Verify,'' or
verification by the owner/ R=``Rejected'' to indicate
operator providing the data; the status of the common
``Verified'' (V) after the code and its data record.
verification process has been
completed; ``Declined To
Verify'' (D) if the owner/
operator has declined to
verify the data; or
``Rejected'' (R) if the owner/
operator rejects to verify
the data because it is not a
valid transaction point.
17. Date active.............. The date on which the M A date field in a format that
transaction point becomes or is machine-processable. The
became active. A default owner/operator would use
value equivalent to January this field to notify the
1, 1960 would be used for all Code Assignor of date the
points that are currently data based record
active. representing the proprietary/
common code cross-reference
becomes active.
18. Date inactive............ The date on which the C A date field in format that
transaction point is, will is machine-processable. The
be, or became inactive. The owner/operator would use
owner/operator would use this this field to notify the
field to notify the Code Code Assignor of date the
Assignor of points that will data base record
be permanently inactive on a representing the proprietary/
future date. This is not common code cross-reference
intended to be used to becomes inactive. This data
indicate temporary closure element is conditional,
due to such factors as based on whether the owner/
maintenance. operator changes, whether
the proprietary code or name
changes, whether other data
elements change, or whether
the point is permanently
removed from service.
19. Facility type............ A standard facility type name M A text field containing a
assigned by the Code Assignor standard facility type
which also indicates flow assigned by the Code
direction. Assignor.
20. Last update.............. The date on which the M A date field in a format that
transaction point common code is machine-processable. The
record has been changed. Code Assignor would use this
field to indicate either
when the record was created,
modified, or made inactive.
21. Transaction code......... A code assigned by the Code M A single-position alpha field
Assignor to indicate whether assigned by the Code
the record is an (A)dd, Assignor for transactional
(C)hange, or (D)elete. purposes.
22. Data reference number.... A random, non-intelligent M A positive integer field
number assigned by the Code assigned by the Code
Assignor. In conjunction with Assignor to help process
``Date active'' and ``Date transactions.
inactive'' this acts as a
file key.
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[FR Doc. 94-24120 Filed 9-28-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
