Natural Gas

September 04, 2024

Platts proposes to amend Kern River/Opal plant daily natural gas index methodology

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, has reviewed its Kern River Gas Transmission natural gas index locations and proposes to amend the methodology of its Kern River/Opal plant daily market.

Specifically, Platts proposes to amend the methodology of its Kern River/Opal plant daily natural gas location (IGBCL00) to include all transactions done at the Kern River Gas Transmission receipt pool (KRGT-Rec Pool) in the index.

The proposed changes would result in all KRGT-Rec Pool trades being included in the Kern River/Opal plant daily index regardless of which delivery location is specified, ensuring that trades are neither included nor excluded based solely on how the trades are reported to Platts.

The proposed changes to the methodology for the Kern River/Opal plant daily index would be as follows:

Existing Proposed

Kern River/Opal plant (daily market)

Deliveries into Kern River Gas Transmission at the Opal, Wyoming processing plant, Pioneer Plant and the Muddy Creek compressor station in southwestern Wyoming where Kern River interconnects with Northwest Pipeline, MountainWest Pipeline and Colorado Interstate Gas. Gas traded at the Opal Plant or Pioneer Plant that is not nominated into a specific pipeline is included in the daily Kern River-Opal Plant pricing point.

Kern River/Opal plant (daily market only)

Deliveries into Kern River Gas Transmission in Fuel Zones 1-4 only. Trades at the Opal Plant, Pioneer Plant, Muddy Creek compressor station, and the Kern River Gas Transmission receipt pool are included, unless the location is outside of Fuel Zones 1-4.

The proposed changes to the daily index would begin to take effect for next-day trading done on Oct. 31, 2024, for delivery Nov. 1, 2024.

The full US and Canada natural gas methodology and specifications guide can be found here.

Please write to AmericasGasPricing@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com with feedback by Sept. 30, 2024, indicating whether the feedback should be kept private and confidential. Feedback not marked as such may be made available for public viewing upon request.