Title 30
SECTION 1206.153
1206.153 How do I determine a transportation allowance if I have an arm's-length transportation contract
§ 1206.153 How do I determine a transportation allowance if I have an arm's-length transportation contract? Link to an amendment published at 86 FR 4656, Jan. 15, 2021. This amendment was delayed until Apr. 16, 2021, at 86 FR 9289, Feb. 12, 2021.(a)(1) If you or your affiliate incur transportation costs under an arm's-length transportation contract, you may claim a transportation allowance for the reasonable, actual costs incurred, as more fully explained in paragraph (b) of this section, except as provided in § 1206.152(g) and subject to the limitation in § 1206.152(e).
(2) You must be able to demonstrate that your or your affiliate's contract is arm's-length.
(b) Subject to the requirements of paragraph (c) of this section, you may include, but are not limited to, the following costs to determine your transportation allowance under paragraph (a) of this section; you may not use any cost as a deduction that duplicates all or part of any other cost that you use under this section:
(1) Firm demand charges paid to pipelines. You may deduct firm demand charges or capacity reservation fees that you or your affiliate paid to a pipeline, including charges or fees for unused firm capacity that you or your affiliate have not sold before you report your allowance. If you or your affiliate receive(s) a payment from any party for release or sale of firm capacity after reporting a transportation allowance that included the cost of that unused firm capacity, or if you or your affiliate receive(s) a payment or credit from the pipeline for penalty refunds, rate case refunds, or other reasons, you must reduce the firm demand charge claimed on form ONRR-2014 by the amount of that payment. You must modify form ONRR-2014 by the amount received or credited for the affected reporting period and pay any resulting royalty due, plus late payment interest calculated under §§ 1218.54 and 1218.102 of this chapter.
(2) Gas Supply Realignment (GSR) costs. The GSR costs result from a pipeline reforming or terminating supply contracts with producers in order to implement the restructuring requirements of FERC Orders in 18 CFR part 284.
(3) Commodity charges. The commodity charge allows the pipeline to recover the costs of providing service.
(4) Wheeling costs. Hub operators charge a wheeling cost for transporting gas from one pipeline to either the same or another pipeline through a market center or hub. A hub is a connected manifold of pipelines through which a series of incoming pipelines are interconnected to a series of outgoing pipelines.
(5) Gas Research Institute (GRI) fees. The GRI conducts research, development, and commercialization programs on natural gas-related topics for the benefit of the U.S. gas industry and gas customers. GRI fees are allowable, provided that such fees are mandatory in FERC-approved tariffs.
(6) Annual Charge Adjustment (ACA) fees. FERC charges these fees to pipelines to pay for its operating expenses.
(7) Payments (either volumetric or in value) for actual or theoretical losses. Theoretical losses are not deductible in transportation arrangements unless the transportation allowance is based on arm's-length transportation rates charged under a FERC or State regulatory-approved tariff. If you or your affiliate receive(s) volumes or credit for line gain, you must reduce your transportation allowance accordingly and pay any resulting royalties plus late payment interest calculated under §§ 1218.54 and 1218.102 of this chapter;
(8) Temporary storage services. This includes short-duration storage services that market centers or hubs (commonly referred to as “parking” or “banking”) offer or other temporary storage services that pipeline transporters provide, whether actual or provided as a matter of accounting. Temporary storage is limited to 30 days or fewer.
(9) Supplemental costs for compression, dehydration, and treatment of gas. ONRR allows these costs only if such services are required for transportation and exceed the services necessary to place production into marketable condition required under § 1206.146 of this part.
(10) Costs of surety. You may deduct the costs of securing a letter of credit, or other surety, that the pipeline requires you or your affiliate, as a shipper, to maintain under a transportation contract.
(11) Hurricane surcharges. You may deduct hurricane surcharges that you or your affiliate actually pay(s).
(c) You may not include the following costs to determine your transportation allowance under paragraph (a) of this section:
(1) Fees or costs incurred for storage. This includes storing production in a storage facility, whether on or off of the lease, for more than 30 days.
(2) Aggregator/marketer fees. This includes fees that you or your affiliate pay(s) to another person (including your affiliates) to market your gas, including purchasing and reselling the gas or finding or maintaining a market for the gas production.
(3) Penalties that you or your affiliate incur(s) as a shipper. These penalties include, but are not limited to:
(i) Over-delivery cash-out penalties. This includes the difference between the price that the pipeline pays to you or your affiliate for over-delivered volumes outside of the tolerances and the price that you or your affiliate receive(s) for over-delivered volumes within the tolerances.
(ii) Scheduling penalties. This includes penalties that you or your affiliate incur(s) for differences between daily volumes delivered into the pipeline and volumes scheduled or nominated at a receipt or delivery point.
(iii) Imbalance penalties. This includes penalties that you or your affiliate incur(s) (generally on a monthly basis) for differences between volumes delivered into the pipeline and volumes scheduled or nominated at a receipt or delivery point.
(iv) Operational penalties. This includes fees that you or your affiliate incur(s) for violation of the pipeline's curtailment or operational orders issued to protect the operational integrity of the pipeline.
(4) Intra-hub transfer fees. These are fees that you or your affiliate pay(s) to hub operators for administrative services (such as title transfer tracking) necessary to account for the sale of gas within a hub.
(5) Fees paid to brokers. This includes fees that you or your affiliate pay(s) to parties who arrange marketing or transportation, if such fees are separately identified from aggregator/marketer fees.
(6) Fees paid to scheduling service providers. This includes fees that you or your affiliate pay(s) to parties who provide scheduling services, if such fees are separately identified from aggregator/marketer fees.
(7) Internal costs. This includes salaries and related costs, rent/space costs, office equipment costs, legal fees, and other costs to schedule, nominate, and account for the sale or movement of production.
(8) Other non-allowable costs. Any cost you or your affiliate incur(s) for services that you are required to provide at no cost to the lessor, including, but not limited to, costs to place your gas, residue gas, or gas plant products into marketable condition disallowed under § 1206.146 and costs of boosting residue gas disallowed under § 1202.151(b).
(d) If you have no written contract for the transportation of gas, then ONRR will determine your transportation allowance under § 1206.144. You may not use this paragraph (d) if you or your affiliate perform(s) your own transportation.
(1) You must propose to ONRR a method to determine the allowance using the procedures in § 1206.148(a).
(2) You may use that method to determine your allowance until ONRR issues its determination.