Apache Corp. and Noble Energy Protest Dauphin Island Gathering Partners’ Storm Surcharge Filing, Claiming That Some Charges Were Not Incurred in Connection to Any Storms; Standing Firm, Dauphin Island Disagrees

摘要

Dauphin Island Gathering Partners’ recent annual storm surcharge filing (RP14-566) incorrectly included charges that were spent in compliance with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s (BSEE’s) Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) platform requirements and were not actually incurred in connection to any storms, said shippers Apache Corp. and Noble Energy, Inc., in a March 12 joint protest filing at FERC. The dissenters asked the Commission to deny Dauphin Island’s attempt to include $1,787,679 of “ineligible bracing project costs.” Firing back in a March 19 answer, Dauphin Island insisted that the bracing project costs were required by the BSEE as a result of Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina and Rita in 2004 and 2005, and are eligible costs in accordance with its tariff.