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With the approach of winter in California, gas flow along Pacific Gas and Electric Company's California Gas Transmission (CGT) Baja path has increased to the point where allocations are not uncommon. A working knowledge of CGT's cut codes is essential to understanding the Baja situation.

Baja Path Capacity Limits

The capacity of the Baja path is 1,140 MMcf. When nominations exceed the capacity of the Baja path itself, the INSIDEtracc 100 Report (Confirmed Nominations and Scheduled Volumes) displays one of the following cut codes:

• Path-01: Nomination exceeded the path incoming volume limit.
• Path-04: Nomination reduced due to destination pool imbalance caused by path constraint.
• Path-05: Nomination reduced due to source pool imbalance caused by path constraint.

Because INSIDEtracc uses an iterative process, some trimmed volumes may later be restored during the scheduling process. Volumes restored in this manner are identified with the following code:

• Path-02: Nomination restored due to upstream market availability during the path constraint process.

The cut codes above indicate nominations exceed the capacity of the entire Baja path. This is not the only possible reason for Baja allocations, however.

Interconnect Capacity Limits

The Baja path has six separate receipt point interconnections. Each of these receipt points also has its own specific capacity limitation. The six receipt points are:

• SoCal Gas at Kern River Station (SCAL)
• Kern River Gas Transmission High Desert Lateral (HDL)
• Kern River Gas Transmission at Daggett (KRPL)
• Southern Trails (QST)
• El Paso Natural Gas Pipeline at Topock (EPNG)
• Transwestern at Topock (TW)

When nominations at one of these interconnects exceed the interconnect capacity, INSIDEtracc uses the following cut code:

• Intrcon-03: Nomination exceeded the interconnect outgoing volume limit.

Transportation Priorities

When allocations are necessary, INSIDEtracc trims nominations according to the transportation priorities defined in Rule 14 of Pacific Gas and Electric Company's tariffs. First, as-available Baja supplies are trimmed in order of increasing price. That is, the lowest priced as-available Baja transportation is trimmed first, followed by higher priced as-available Baja transportation. If all as-available supplies are cut and further allocations are necessary, firm Baja supplies are allocated on a pro rata basis.

Increasing Priority in the As-available Queue

Your CGT Sales Representative is available to discuss increasing the position of your Baja transportation in the as-available queue.

Current Capacity Limits

Pipeline or compressor maintenance may affect pipeline capacity on any given day. CGT's Pipeline Maintenance News page provides the most current information available for overall path capacity. Pipe Ranger's home page shows when this page was last updated.

Individual interconnection capacity limits may change daily with operating conditions. For current interconnection limits, choose Physical Pipeline Capacity from Pipe Ranger's Operations menu.

More Questions?

As always, your CGT Representative is but a phone call away.