Several interstate pipelines are actively promoting storage capacity access. ' During the 1988-89 winter, Natural Gas Pipeline Company moved approximately 30 billion cubic feet of natural gas through its Best Efforts Storage Service interruptible storage program approved by the FERC in 1987. The commission recently approved, with some modifications, a blanket certificate application filed by Natural in 1988 to implement new firm storage service for customers who convert to transportation service and within capacity constraints, for entities (including producers, intrastate pipelines, and end users) other than converting customers.* Finally, in a January 1990 order accepting a settlement to implement Natural's proposed interim gas inventory charge, the commission conditioned its approval on allowing certain contract-storage-rate-schedule customers to inject up to 100 percent of their storage entitlements with third-party gas.
A N R has recently received conditional FERC authorization for new storage service for third parties. ANR's program includes a range of new firm and interruptible open-access storage services generally applicable on a first-come, first-served basis. Customers will be able to contract for storage-related transportation service from ANR or to contract for vansportation service from other transporters. Firm and interruptible storage customers, including ANR's existing sales customers, will be allowed to purchase storage-injection gas from ANR or from other customers. Such elections will be made annually by firmstorage customers and monthly by interruptible customers. On rehearing of its March 1989 order on ANR's proposal, the commission, among other things, (I) permitted ANR to apply its capacity-reservation charges to the transportation of gas withdrawn from storage, (2) required ANR to file compliance tariff sheets clarifying that storage-