Frequently Asked Questions

Cashout
Gas Quality
Imbalances
Invoices
Penalties
Pooling
Rates
Reporting
Scheduling
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CASHOUT

How can I calculate my Cashout Charge/Credit?
For Transportation / Pooling agreements, any imbalance not traded or offset with storage is cashed out. To learn more about imbalance resolution, see How to resolve your imbalance.

Current Period

• Shipper imbalances in same direction (majority shipper) as the cash out system imbalance are cashed out at a percentage of the High or Low price depending on system imbalance direction
  • System Short – short imbalances cashed out on a percentage of highest price used in calculating index average
  • System Long – long imbalances cashed out on a percentage of lowest price used in calculating index average
• Shipper imbalances in opposite direction of cash out system imbalance are cashed out at 100% of the index average
• Shipper imbalances less than or equal to 5,000 dth prior to storage offsets or imbalance trades are cashed out at 100% of index average regardless of imbalance percentage
• Applicable imbalance percentage based on the lower of (a) actual imbalance percentage calculated after trades and storage offsets or (b) estimated imbalance percentage as of the end of month
• Majority shipper imbalances exceeding 5% are subject to tiered cash out pricing for the weighted portion of imbalance above tolerance
• If System test is met (under 100,000 Dth long or 200,000 short), all imbalances are cashed out at 100% of index average
• For information on how these indexes are calculated, see How the index price is calculated.

Prior Period Adjustments

• Imbalances due the customer are cashed out at the higher of (a) current month cash out average or (b) the cash out average for the month of the adjustment
• Imbalances due Southern are cashed out at the lower of (a) current month cash out average or (b) the cash out average for the month of the adjustment

How is the Index Calculated?
The cash out price for Southern Natural is an average of monthly and weekly prices from two industry publications.

• “Inside F.E.R.C.’s Gas Market Report”
  • Production Month Price – The monthly index price shown for Southern Natural Gas Co. – Louisiana for the production month
  • First of Month Price - The monthly index price shown for Southern Natural Gas Co. – Louisiana in the month following the production month.
• “Natural Gas Intelligence Weekly Gas Price Index”
  • Production Month Prices – NGI is published each Monday. The price used is the Southern Natural – South Louisiana – Average for each weekly publication. The number of prices used each month depends on the number of publications each month.
  • First of Month Price – The index price shown for Southern Natural – South Louisiana – Average in the first week following the production month.
  • If the first publication of the month does not contain a price for the first of the month, use the bid week price.
  • The number of NGI prices used for some OBA’s continues to be limited by the nomination deadline.
    • “… published no later than two (2) business days prior to the nomination deadline …”

An example of how the index is calculated:

The calculation would be the sum of the weekly prices used divided by the number of prices used:

(7.50+7.75+8.50+9.00+9.50+10.00+13.00+11.00) / 8 = $9.53

The cash out price is used in the calculation of the cash out amount due Southern or the shipper. The prices used are:

• Index average - $9.53
• Highest price used in the calculation - $13.00
• Lowest price used in the calculation - $7.50

NOTE: Real prices were not used in this example. Prices used for OBA agreements are limited to nomination deadlines.

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GAS QUALITY

Where can I find chromatograph data?
Go to Home in Premier

• Select Flowing Gas > Measurement > Daily > Gas Composition Data
• Select a Station and Press Search
• Press the report icon and open MSM006 to print a report

What is the maximum amount of water content SNG will accept?
SNG's tariff limit is 7 lbs/MMscf H20 (water vapor).

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IMBALANCES

Where can I view my imbalance?

• Go to Home in Premier
• Select Billing > Imbalance and Cashout > Imbalance Summary
• Select whether you wish to view imbalances by an agent.
  • If the customer selected is an imbalance agent, select “yes” to view the imbalances generated by that customer plus the imbalances of the other customers in that agency.
  • If the customer selected has an imbalance agent, select “no” to view the imbalances generated by that customer.
  • To view the imbalances for just the customer selected, select “no”.
• Press the search button.
• A negative imbalance reflects gas owed to SNG
• A positive imbalance reflects gas that SNG owes the shipper
• Imbalances are calculated daily, but there is a two-day delay in Premier.

How can I Resolve my Imbalance?

Transportation / Pooling have several options for settling imbalances:

• Imbalance Trades
• Storage To Settle Imbalances
• Cash Out
• No Notice (automatic settlement of delivery point imbalances)

Imbalance Trading - Shippers may trade current month imbalances with other shippers having imbalances in the opposite direction

• Shipper must elect to post their imbalance (within seventeen business days after end of month)
• Seventeen business day trading period
• Shipper may elect to post up to 100 percent of their imbalance or a specific quantity
• Election may be entered in Premier or provided by mail or fax. The election forms are located on the Standard Forms section.
• Imbalances created as a result of prior period adjustments cannot be traded

Storage Offset - Shippers may offset both their current month imbalance and prior period adjustments with storage

• Utilizing customer’s storage account
• Utilizing another customer’s storage account
• Utilizing Off system storage accounts directly connected to SNG
• Currently only storage at Petal interconnect qualifies
• Limited to shipper’s storage inventory or available storage capacity under a CSS or ISS service agreement.
• Deadline for making an election to offset imbalances with storage is the 10th business day after the end of the month or the imbalance trading deadline, if customer elects to post balance for trade.
• If using another customer’s storage, the storage holder must confirm the third party election within the election deadline(s).
• If using off system storage (Petal) the storage operator must confirm the election within the election deadline(s).
• Shipper may elect to offset up to 100 percent of their imbalance or a specific quantity for on system storage and a specific quantity for off system storage
• On system elections can be made online through the 8th business day or by fax or mail afterward. The election forms are located on the Standard Forms section.
• Off system elections must be made by fax or mail
• Storage offsets occur after imbalance trades

Cash Out - For Transportation / Pooling agreements, any imbalance not traded or offset with storage is cashed out. For more information regarding cashout, see How to calculate your cashout.

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INVOICES

Where can I see my account balance?
To review the status of your account balance, open the Account Statement screen in Premier. This screen can be found in the Billing / Charges folder from the Premier home page. This screen will show all unpaid invoices, paid invoices up to three months old, payments, and disputed issues.

Around the 5th of each month, account statements are mailed to customers with overdue charges.

Questions regarding the online or mailed account statement should be addressed to Leslie Hancock in SNG-Customer Services. She can be reached by calling 205-325-3864 or by sending e-mail to leslie.hancock@elpaso.com.

How can I get a copy of my invoice?
Customers can run individual schedules by selecting Available Reports from the Premier main menu. If a replacement invoice is needed, contact Doris Tate in SNG Customer Services. She can be reached by calling 205-325-3846 or by sending e-mail to doris.tate@elpaso.com.

Where do I send payment?
Checks are to be sent to:

Southern Natural Gas Company
PO Box 102502
Atlanta, GA 30368

Wires are to be sent to:

Southern Natural Gas Company
Suntrust Bank
ABA #061000104
A/C #8800598453

This information can be found on the first page of the invoice.

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PENALTIES

What are the various types of penalties?
This graph describes the types of penalties on Southern Natural Gas Pipeline (SNG) effective 10/1/2005.

* Hours prior to beginning of gas day (9:00 a.m. CCT)
** Can be plus, minus, or both

GT&C = General Terms and Conditions of SNG's current FERC Gas Tariff

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POOLING

What is the best type of pool to use for my situation?
A tier 1 pool can:

• Buy only from receipt points, and
• Sell to tier 2 pools or transportation contracts

A tier 2 pool can:

• Buy from tier 1 pools or receipt points, and
• Sell only to transportation contracts

Benefits:

• Receipts scheduled from a pool are deemed to occur (scheduled = allocated)
  • Protects the buyer from wellhead variances
• Pools can be zone specific so that receipts are all from a specific rate zone
  • It is easy to know your commodity charge from the pool (instead of getting a pro rata share of various zones)
    • Zone 0 is south of Franklinton/west of Perryville
    • Zone 1 is downstream of Zone 0 to MS/AL line
    • Zone 2 is AL

Firm transportation customer can assign its firm "A" receipt points to pool

• For a specified volume
• For a specified term
• Allows pool to be queued up as a firm service at the assigned receipt point

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RATES

What are the transportation rates?
SNG transportation rates are posted on this website in the Rates section.

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REPORTING

How do I run a report?
Before running a report, the user will need to have the following:

• A Premier ID and password. For more information on how to sign up for access, call the SoNet Premier Helpline at 1-888-766-3873.
• Adobe Acrobat® Reader. This software is free, and it can be downloaded from Adobe at www.adobe.com/acrobat.

Most of the reports that you require can be run from the Premier screen you are currently on, provided there is a "report" icon at the bottom. This icon is shaped like a piece of paper.

If you do not see a "report" icon, you may go to Home (in Premier), click on Available Reports, and select the report you need. When your selection is made, the screen where the report can be run will open. Should you need to change dates, etc., please do so now; then, press the "report" icon. Select the report you wish to run. You may be prompted to select the format of the report. The two report formats that Premier can generate are PDF (Adobe Acrobat®) and CSV (comma separated value).

Some screens also allow you to export the data shown in the grid. Those screens will have an "export data" icon at the bottom: This icon is shaped like a lightning bolt.

When the Export Data Wizard window appears, simply mark "comma," and click on Export All. You will then be asked to save the report. Enter a file name, and use .csv as the filename extension. The exported data can be opened with Microsoft® Excel®.

Excel, Microsoft, & Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Acrobat & Adobe are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

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SCHEDULING

Why did I get cut and what do I do on the next nomination cycle?

• Receipt nominations exceed available capacity
• Your receipt nomination from pool does not match pooler's nomination to you
• Nominations are reduced by point operators or interest owners during confirmation process
• Delivery nominations plus forecasted no-notice exceeds available capacity
• SNG balances contracts to reflect any reductions in nominations
• Contracts adjusted based on balancing priorities provided by shippers and poolers on nomination form
• Nominations were made out of sequence, and Premier did not recognize the nominations. Nominations should be made in the following order for any given gas day: 9:00 AM Timely; 9:00 AM Evening: Intraday 1 and Intraday 2.

In Premier, you may use your Scheduled Quantity for Service Requester Basic screen to view your daily scheduled numbers by date and cycle. The final numbers are available after each scheduling cycle has been completed. In addition, you may also run a report from this screen simply by clicking on the "paper" symbol icon.

Should you have any cuts, you should see a reduction code abbreviation beside the cut number. These abbreviations are as follows:

CPR-D	Confirming Party Reduction by the Operator of a Delivery Point
CPR-I	Confirming Party Reduction by an Interest Owner at a Receipt Point
CPR-IC	Confirming Party Reduction by the Operator of an Interconnect Point
CPR-PS	Reduction due to Pool Sync. These reductions are made when contract to contract nominations do not match, or a contract is reduced in balancing from reductions in upstream/downstream contracts.
CPR-R	Confirming Party Reduction by the Operator of a Receipt Point
CPR-S	Confirming Party Reduction by the Storage Owner
PCC-ST	Reductions in Interruptible Storage due to Storage Constraints
CBL	Reduction due to contract balancing
PCC	Pipeline Capacity Constraint
GQS	Reduction due to gas quality specifications not being met
SCH1	SNG Scheduling Analyst Correction
SCH2	Scheduled Quantity System Correction

What are the nomination/confirmation deadlines?

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SUBMIT A QUESTION

If you have a question that could not be answered in this section, feel free to submit a question to SNG. You can do so by sending your question to sngquestions@elpaso.com.