Notice of Joint Workshop on the Western Natural Gas Assessment

The Energy Commission and Western Interstate Energy Board will hold a joint workshop on Tuesday, June 29, 2004, regarding the joint Western Natural Gas Assessment (Assessment). This Assessment will be prepared by the Western Interstate Energy Board (WIEB), California Energy Commission, and the western U.S. states and Canadian provinces.

TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 2004
Starting at 10 a.m.
CALIFORNIA ENERGY COMMISSION
1516 Ninth Street
First Floor, Hearing Room A
Sacramento, California
(Wheelchair Accessible)

Audio from this workshop will be broadcast over the internet.
Presentations will be available on our website.
For details, please go to:
www.energy.ca.gov/realaudio/

The purpose of the workshop is to discuss the scope of the project, proposed assumptions, data, and methodologies used to perform the analyses. The workshop agenda is attached.

The Assessment will focus on the North American natural gas pipeline system, with an emphasis on the three western Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan), the western United States, and Northern Mexico. All natural gas consuming sectors will be analyzed: residential, commercial, industrial, and electricity generation. The Assessment will contribute to the analysis of electricity resource adequacy to assist in determining the sufficiency of natural gas supplies and infrastructure to serve natural gas-fired electricity generation.

The Assessment will be conducted in two phases. The first phase will examine the natural gas market with a long-term 10-year annual outlook; the second phase will examine the seasonal and short-term market in shorter intervals.

This workshop will focus on Phase I of the Assessment, analyzing normal temperature and hydroelectric resources. In the Assessment, extreme demand for natural gas will be examined by testing cold weather or low hydroelectric resources or both. Cold weather may increase natural gas use for space heating and increase consumption for power generation because of low hydroelectric generation. Under these conditions, this Assessment will help determine whether natural gas resources and the delivery system can meet extreme natural gas demand.

For more information about the Assessment, please review the following documents.

This workshop provides a forum to review the analytical areas to be studied, including natural gas supply, demand, infrastructure, and the modeling methodology for this study. The WIEB and Energy Commission staff encourages interested parties to provide comments on the applicability of the report's design, including modeling methodology and parameters.

To identify specific issues for this workshop and help finalize the agenda, the staff requests that parties submit their initial comments addressing the appropriateness of the purpose and the scoping questions, or offer data by 5:00 p.m. on June 23, 2004. Please include the docket number 03-IEP-01 and indicate "WIEB-CEC Western Natural Gas Assessment" in the subject line or initial paragraph of your comments. Those submitting written comments by electronic mail should provide the comments in either Microsoft Word format or Portable Document Format, but parties must also submit one paper copy to the Energy Commission's Dockets Unit. E-mail comments should be sent to [docket@energy.state.ca.us]. Those submitting written comments by hard copy only must provide an original plus 12 paper copies to the Energy Commission's Dockets Unit.

California Energy Commission
Re: Docket No. 03-IEP-01
Docket Unit, MS-4
1516 Ninth Street
Sacramento, CA 95814-5504

Alternatively, participants may provide an original and 12 copies at the beginning of the workshop. All written materials relating to this workshop will be filed with the Dockets Unit and will become part of the public record.

To receive notices of future workshops and report availability, interested parties may sign up on the Western Natural Gas Assessment list server at:

Members of the public who have technical questions regarding the subject matter of this notice may contact Todd Peterson, Energy Commission Technical Lead, at (916) 654-4838 or at [tpeterso@energy.state.ca.us]. For questions regarding project management, please contact Doug Larson, Executive Director of the Western Interstate Energy Board, at (303) 573-8910, or at [dlarson@westgov.org].

The Energy Commission's Public Adviser, Margret J. Kim, provides the public assistance in participating in Energy Commission activities. If you would like information on how to participate in this workshop, please contact the Public Adviser's Office by phone at (916) 654-4489 or toll free at (800) 822-6228, by FAX at (916) 654-4493, or by e-mail at [pao@energy.state.ca.us]. If you have a disability and require assistance to participate in this workshop, please contact Lou Quiroz at (916) 654-5146 at least five days in advance.

For parking and/or public transit information, visit our website and please consider carpooling and public transportation to save gasoline.

News media should direct inquiries to Assistant Director Claudia Chandler at (916) 654-4989, or at [media@energy.state.ca.us].

Draft Agenda for
Western Natural Gas Assessment Workshop
June 29, 2004

10 a.m.	Welcoming Remarks (WIEB and California Energy Comission Chairman William Keese)
10:15	Introduction (Todd Peterson) Purpose of Today’s Workshop Overview of the Western Natural Gas Assessment Overview of Phase I Basecase Forecast
10:45	Natural Gas Demand (Mark Di Giovanna) Review Scoping Questions Plan for Basecase Methodologies, Data, and Assumptions Plan for Scenario/Sensitivity Analysis Opportunity for Public Questions and Comments
11:45	North American Natural Gas Reserves (Leon Brathwaite) Review Scoping Questions Plan for Basecase Methodologies, Data, and Assumptions Plan for Scenario/Sensitivity Analysis Opportunity for Public Questions and Comments
12:30 p.m.	LUNCH Break
1:45	Reconvene – Summary of Morning Session (Todd Peterson)
2 p.m.	Liquefied Natural Gas Supplies (Jim Fore) Review Scoping Questions Plan for Basecase Methodologies, Data, and Assumptions Plan for Scenario/Sensitivity Analysis Opportunity for Public Questions and Comments
2:30	Natural Gas Interstate Pipelines, Storage, and LNG Infrastructure (Bill Wood) Review Scoping Questions Plan for Basecase Methodologies, Data, and Assumptions Plan for Scenario/Sensitivity Analysis Opportunity for Public Questions and Comments
3:30 p.m.	Summary of Afternoon Session
3:45	Closing Remarks