

[Federal Register: March 30, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 61)]
[Notices]               
[Page 16135-16136]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30mr06-52]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. OR06-6-000 and Enbridge Offshore Facilities, LLC]

 
Notice of Petition for Declaratory Order

March 24, 2006.
    Take notice that on March 17, 2006, Enbridge Offshore Facilities, 
LLC (Enbridge) filed in Docket No. OR06-6-000, a petition for 
declaratory order, pursuant to Rule 207(a)(2) of the Commission's Rules 
of Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.207(a)(2)). Enbridge requests 
that the Commission issue an expedited decision on this petition no 
later than mid-June 2006.
    Enbridge states that it is planning to construct a 20-inch 
diameter, 26-mile crude oil pipeline Enbridge Oil Pipeline from 
production facilities servicing the Neptune oil field in the Atwater 
Valley area approximately 170 miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana in 
the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, to Caesar Oil Pipeline. Enbridge Oil 
Pipeline is expected to commence service in 2007. Enbridge Oil Pipeline 
will also be available to serve fields to be developed in the future in 
the western Atwater Valley and eastern Green Canyon areas.
    Enbridge states that the Enbridge Oil Pipeline will function in 
effect as an extension of Caesar Oil Pipeline. The Commission has 
approved contract carriage on Caesar Oil Pipeline,\1\ and Caesar Oil 
Pipeline has entered into transportation agreements with producers in 
the Neptune Field under which Caesar Oil Pipeline has agreed to 
transport up to 60,000 barrels of oil per day from the Neptune Field on 
contract carriage terms. Enbridge asserts that if those shippers and 
others who may ship on Enbridge Oil Pipeline in the future are to be 
assured that they can take advantage of their full contract rights to 
ship on Caesar Oil Pipeline, they must also be able to contract for 
rights to ship on Enbridge Oil Pipeline. Without such complementary 
contractual rights to ship on Enbridge Oil Pipeline, shippers will be 
concerned about the possibility that common-carrier type pro rata 
allocation might be required on

[[Page 16136]]

Enbridge Oil Pipeline under the provisions of 43 U.S.C. 1334(e)-(f) 
(2004). This would create a mismatch between the capacity for which 
shippers have contracted on Caesar Oil Pipeline and the capacity to 
which they have access on Enbridge Oil Pipeline to transport their oil 
to Caesar Oil Pipeline.
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    \1\ Caesar Oil Pipeline, 102 FERC ] 61,339 at PP 1, 37-38 
(2003).
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    Enbridge is concerned that in the absence of the declaratory order 
that it seeks, the potential for common-carrier type pro rata 
allocation on Enbridge Oil Pipeline will (1) result in shippers 
refusing to transport volumes on Enbridge Oil Pipeline due to such 
shippers' concern that they will be prevented from tendering their 
contracted-for volumes to Caesar Oil Pipeline, and (2) encourage 
shippers to build their own isolated, duplicative pipeline capacity as 
insurance against having to restrict production from their fields as a 
result of prorationing on Enbridge Oil Pipeline. Enbridge maintains 
that such uncertainty and unnecessary expense would discourage 
development of oil production and construction of efficient large-scale 
pipelines in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
    Accordingly, Enbridge seeks the following:
    A Commission declaration that Enbridge Oil Pipeline will be 
authorized to function as a contract carrier, hold on open season, 
enter into long-term transportation contracts reflecting contract 
carriage principles, give those contracts precedence in allocating 
capacity, and contract for capacity that remains available after the 
open season closes on a first-come, first-served basis, consistent with 
the Commission's ruling in Caesar Oil Pipeline, 102 FERC ] 61,339, at 
PP 1, 37 (2003).
    Any person desiring to intervene or to protest this filing must 
file in accordance with Rules 211 and 214 of the Commission's Rules of 
Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.211 and 385.214). Protests will be 
considered by the Commission in determining the appropriate action to 
be taken, but will not serve to make protestants parties to the 
proceeding. Any person wishing to become a party must file a notice of 
intervention or motion to intervene, as appropriate. Such notices, 
motions, or protests must be filed in accordance on or before the date 
as indicated below. Anyone filing an intervention or protest must serve 
a copy of that document on the Applicant. Anyone filing an intervention 
or protest on or before the intervention or protest date need not serve 
motions to intervene or protests on persons other than the Applicant.
    The Commission encourages electronic submission of protests and 
interventions in lieu of paper using the ``eFiling'' link at http://www.ferc.gov.
 Persons unable to file electronically should submit an 

original and 14 copies of the protest or intervention to the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 
20426.
    This filing is accessible on-line at http://www.ferc.gov, using the 

``eLibrary'' link and is available for review in the Commission's 
Public Reference Room in Washington, DC. There is an ``eSubscription'' 
link on the Web site that enables subscribers to receive e-mail 
notification when a document is added to a subscribed docket(s). For 
assistance with any FERC Online service, please e-mail 
FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, or call (866) 208-3676 (toll free). For 

TTY, call (202) 502-8659.
    Comment Date: 5 p.m. eastern time on April 13, 2006.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E6-4645 Filed 3-29-06; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
