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Dear Readers,

Sadie here.  Y’all, it’s almost officially summer, and all I can think about is takin’ a nice dip in a swimmin’ pool.  Problem is I don’t own a pool, and I don’t know the first thing about which kind I want.  Do I want an in-ground pool?  A salt water pool?  A lap pool?

My cat, Decatherm, has been no help either.  I Google swimming pool, and she’s just all up on my keyboard with her butt in my face.

Now, Honey, I may not know about swimmin’ pools, but there are certain types of pools I know plenty about.  Read on…

R Pools and N Pools and F Pools, OH MY!

Dear Sadie,
What’s with all the pools? You’ve got R pools, N pools and F pools. Is Michael Phelps over there at CGT training for the next Olympics or something? But seriously, how many pools do I really need and how am I supposed to know which pools to use when and for what?
Signed,
Muddled in Memphis

Dear Muddled,

In general, the reason CGT provides pools to our customers is to allow them to mask the source or the destination of that gas.  By using pools, whenever a customer sells or buys gas, the counterparty has absolutely no idea where that gas might have come from or where it’s headed.  And having more than one kind of pool accomplishes something else - it allows INSIDEtracc to distinguish between the receipt location and delivery location whenever gas is being transported.

More specifically, whenever gas is moved from a pool at one location to a pool at a different location, INSIDEtracc requires the Source ID to be an R pool and the Dest ID to be either an N pool or an F pool.  R stands for Receipt and represents a receipt pool, while N and F are delivery pools and stand for Normal and Firm, respectively.   When you first signed up as a customer to do business on CGT, one of each kind of pool was automatically created for you at each interconnect.

Now, while an N pool can be the Destination ID for a nomination using either an As Available OR a Firm transportation exhibit, if the customer uses an F pool as the Destination ID, then only a Firm transportation exhibit can be used.  Not surprisingly, because the N pool allows BOTH types of transportation exhibits, most customers tend to prefer it over the F pool.

If gas is NOT being transported, but rather bought from or sold to a counterparty at the same location, then customers should use the same type of pool – R to R at the receipt point or N to N at the delivery point.  All two-party CityGate transactions, for example, are N to N pool transactions.

To help clarify which pools can be used, whether or not transportation is required as well as which other Source/Dest combinations are possible, CGT created a matrix on Pipe Ranger which can be seen here.

I recommend you either bookmark this link or print out a copy (preferably in color to make it easier to distinguish between the colors designating "same" and "different" location).

If you’re still unclear as to which pool to use under which circumstance, the friendly folks at the CGT Scheduling Helpline are available every day from 6:00 AM to 8:30 PM PST to answer any pool-related or other questions you might have.

Wanna Win Some Prizes?

I hope y’all have been reading my wonderful advice columns because, although it’s summer break, y’all are about to get schooled. In late July, I’ll be publishing a quiz, and you’ll have a chance at some fun prizes. What are those prizes? Well, they don’t call ‘em sur-prizes for nothin’, Honey! Keep up on every Dear Sadie article, and I’ll let you know more details soon.

Catch ya on the next nom cycle, and be safe!
  Sadie