Subject: kern river problems
as was foretold by some of the kern expansion shippers , these shippers are justifiably angry about the way kern has sold capacity in their open season , particularly as concerns shippers ' access to markets on socal gas through wheeler ridge . however , what ' s even more encouraging here is to see that shippers are now validating the message tw embodied in its gir proposal - - new market entrants should only have secondary rights to socal system capacity in instances where there is a capacity shortage .
shippers dispute kern ' s wheeler ridge sales
chevron , amoco production , canwest gas supply , aera energy and rme petroleum have called on ferc to stop kern river gas transmission from overselling delivery point rights at wheeler ridge into the southern california gas co . distribution system . the firm shippers said in comments filed this week that , in a situation strangely similar to the recent el paso capacity reallocation case , kern river has oversold capacity at wheeler ridge , and its proposed expansion project will only exacerbate the situation ( docket cpol - 31 ) .
on nov . 15 , 2000 , kern filed an application to expand its system and provide 74 , 500 dth / d of additional delivery point capacity at wheeler ridge into socal gas . but firm shippers claim recent data provided by kern and socal gas indicates kern river already has sold more than the 450 mmcf / d of firm delivery point capacity it has available into wheeler ridge . firm shippers told ferc . kern river has sold 468 . 4 mmcf / d of capacity at wheeler ridge .
not true , says lynn dahlberg , kern ' s manager of marketing . " we have to date subscribed at 450 , 000 dth / d . and unless we subscribe at more than 830 , 000 dth / d , we have not sold more capacity than socal has takeaway . " the combined kern - mojave lines can deliver on a firm basis 600 , 000 dth / d , with kern having 450 , 00 and mojave 150 , 000 . " we can move more than that capacity , and we have , " she added .
socal gas has noted that it curtails nominations from kern on a regular basis , shippers said . with the proposed expansion project , kern will be " creating the same type of firm delivery point over - sale situation that the commission found to be unjust and unreasonable on el paso natural gas at el paso ' s socal gas / topock delivery point , " they added . while they support the expansion , they do not want to see their firm delivery rights in southern california degraded . they also complained that kern ' s marketing affiliate is one of the primary beneficiaries of the proposed additional access to wheeler ridge .
dahlberg conceded that other interstate lines also deliver to the wheeler ridge point , but " adding more players to wheeler gives markets on socal more supply options . shippers have to compete . "
the shippers are concerned , however that " substantial benefits under the currently structured proposal accrue primarily to kern river and its affiliate and would restrict the firm rights of existing shippers . . . . " the commission should prohibit kern from selling additional firm rights at wheeler ridge , or provide only rights to secondary and tertiary capacity [ emphasis added ] that is of a lower priority than the rights of existing firm customers , they said .