The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and its members (collectively, “INGAA”) respectfully request that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “Commission”) provide clarification and no-action relief concerning certain interpretive guidance in the preamble to the Commission’s final rule further defining the term “swap” in accordance with section 712(d)(1) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Specifically, INGAA requests clarification and no-action relief in connection with specific interpretive guidance provided on pages 48,242-43 of the Swap Definition Final Rule.
For the reasons explained in its comments, INGAA respectfully requests the Commission clarify:
(1) that agreements for service on natural gas pipeline and storage facilities or parts thereof (i.e., as distinct from sales or purchases of the gas commodity itself) do not have the characteristics of options and hence are not options subject to the swap definition; and
(2) that the Commission will use its historical approach of determining whether an agreement has the characteristics of an option, rather than the mere existence of a two-part fee structure, to determine whether a particular natural gas transportation or storage agreement is an option subject to the swap definition.
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