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Paper Hearing
A process used by FERC to expedite decisions on the basis of a written record submitted directly to the Commission, instead of an oral hearing before an Administrative Law Judge.

Peaking Supply
A supply of natural gas that is available to meet peak demand. Peaking supply is generally associated with seasonal demand, i.e., colder than normal days. Peaking supply may be provided out of storage facilities, from LNG facilities, from Btu enhancement through the injection of propane or other high-Btu substances, or other means.

Peaking Supply Service
A service that entitles a buyer to a certain quantity of natural gas delivered at the buyer's request during peak periods.

Period Hours
Number of hours a unit was in the active state. A unit generally enters the active state on its service date.

Permeability
A measure of the ease with which a fluid flows through rock in response to pressure differences (measured in darcys). Permeability implies that there is some degree of porosity in the rock.

Petroleum
A complex mixture of various hydrocarbons existing in the liquid state found in natural underground reservoirs, often associated with gas. Petroleum includes fuel oil No. 2, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6; topped crude; kerosene; and jet fuel.

Petroleum Coke
A final product, often called a "waste product," of the petroleum refining process, which is the output of the refinery after all of the higher distillates and oils have been distilled from crude oil, leaving a product that has the appearance of coal, and can be found in various types of petroleum coke, depending on the size of the output product, including "sponge," "shot," and "fluid" coke. Petroleum coke may be calcined for specialty uses, including anode production or it may be burned as fuel in various processes, ranging from power plants to cement kilns, which is currently the largest single use of petroleum coke. The fuel product is typically high in sulfur (although there are exceptions), low in volatile matter, low in ash and low in moisture. Heating value is typically 14,200 Btu/lb.

Petroleum Industry Data Exchange
API's Subcommittee serving as an action group for the oil and gas industry.

Pipeline
An entity engaged in the transportation of natural gas in interstate or intrastate commerce. Also, the actual facility itself.

Pipeline Day
An arbitrary 24-hour period of time established by a pipeline for the operation of its system, often beginning at seven or eight o'clock in the morning.

Pipeline Interconnection
A point at which facilities of two or more pipelines interconnect.

Pipeline System
A collection of pipeline facilities used to transport natural gas from source of supply to burner tip, including gathering, transmission or distribution lines, treating or processing plants, compressor stations and related facilities.

Point of Unbundling
The farthest point upstream on a pipeline's system (usually in or contiguous to the production area) when transportation is unbundled from the sale and the point at which title to the gas passes.

Point or Tick
The smallest monetary unit of change in a futures price.

Point-to-Point Service
(Similar to the concept of contract path) point-to-point service provides a customer the ability to use only that portion of a transmission owner's integrated facility to input power at a specified point and take out the power at a specified point regardless of actual flow.

Position
In futures trading, one's status as long or short.

Post-Contingency Operating Procedures
Operating procedures that are invoked by the system operator to mitigate or alleviate system problems after a contingency has occurred.

Prearranged Release
An arrangement set between a shipper releasing firm transportation capacity and a prospective acquiring shipper.

Preference
A legal directive that gives publicly owned utilities and cooperatives priority access to federal power.

Preference Customers
Publicly owned utilities and non-profit cooperatives which by law have preference over investor-owned systems and industrial customers for the purchase of power from federal projects.

Preliminary Determination
Conditional approval granted by FERC after the review of all the terms and conditions of a proposed construction project.

Premium
In the context of sales of natural gas, a price differential reflecting differences in the quality of the product, services or relationships, particularly for long-term firm commitments as opposed to spot sales.

Premium Customer
A customer that has a high value to the seller, such as a customer that takes at a consistent high load factor, or that pays a high incremental or premium price for the product.

Pressure, Absolute (PSIA)
Pressure above that of a perfect vacuum; the sum of gauge pressure and atmospheric pressure.

Pressure, Atmospheric
The pressure of the weight of air and water vapor on the earth's surface. The average atmospheric pressure at sea level has been defined for scientific purposes as 14.696 pounds per square inch. The American Gas Association, the FERC and all other federal agencies have adopted 14.73 lbs. per square inch as the standard pressure base.

Pressure, Base
A standard pressure to which measurements of a volume of natural gas are referred.

Pressure Base
The factor for pressure used in determining a gas's volume, expressed in terms of pounds of pressure per square inch that the gas would exert on the walls of a one-cubic-foot container.

Price
The amount of money or consideration-in-kind for which a service is bought, sold or offered for sale.

Price Cap
A method of setting a utility distribution company's rates whereby a maximum allowable price level is established by regulators, flexibility in individual pricing is allowed, and where efficiency gains can be encouraged and captured by the company.

Price Majeure
The process of retrading interruptible gas which is the result of significant upward or downward price adjustments.

Price To Earnings Ratio (P/E Ratio)
Ratio is calculated by dividing the price per share of common stock by earnings per share over the most recent 12 months. Measured monthly at the enterprise level, it shows the amount investors are willing to pay for $1 of an enterprise's current earnings.

Pricing Differential
The difference between a pipeline's actual gas supply contract costs and a surrogate, such as an index price, for a deemed market price.

Primary Market
Primary markets are the markets where new securities are bought and sold. They act as the conduit through which new capital or funds are acquired.

Primary Recovery
The recovery of oil and/or natural gas by any method (natural flow or artificial lift) that may be employed to produce them through a single well bore; the fluid enters the well bore by the action of native reservoir energy or gravity.

Prime Mover
The engine, turbine, water wheel or similar machine that drives an electric generator; or, for reporting purposes, a device that converts energy to electricity directly (e.g., photovoltaic solar and fuel cells).

Processing Plant
A facility in which raw natural gas from the wellhead is made to meet pipeline quality specifications and prepared for sale to consumers by reducing or removing undesirable impurities and extracting commercially desirable non-methane hydrocarbons from the gas stream.

Producer
A working interest owner of an oil and/or gas well. A producer may sell its share of production itself through the operator of the well, or through another producer.

Producer Demand Charge
Fixed charge paid by customers to producers in order to guarantee the availability of supplies.

Profit
The income remaining after all business expenses are paid.

Project-Financed Pipeline
A pipeline funded by pledging expected revenues to cover the debt.

Propane (C3H8)
A hydrocarbon substance consisting of molecules composed of three carbon atoms and eight hydrogen atoms, used primarily in residential and commercial heating and cooling, and as transportation fuel and petrochemical feedstock.

Propylene (C3H6)
A hydrocarbon substance consisting of molecules composed of three carbon atoms and six hydrogen atoms, used primarily in residential and commercial heating and cooling, and as a transportation fuel and petrochemical feedstock.

Proration
A methodology to allocate a commodity such as pipeline capacity or natural gas supply under which the commodity is split among those seeking to obtain it based on a factor, such as quantity requested or numbers of individuals (per capita).

Provider of Last Resort
A legal obligation (traditionally given to utilities) to provide service to a customer where competitors have decided they do not want that customer's business.

Pseudo-Tie
A calculated reading or value which is updated in real time and which is used as a tie line flow in the ACE equation but for which no physical energy metering actually exists. The integrated value is used as a metered MWh value for interchange accounting purposes.

Public Authority Service to Public Authorities
Public authority service includes electricity supplied and services rendered to municipalities or divisions or agencies of State or Federal governments, under special contracts or agreements or service classifications applicable only to public authorities.

Public Street and Highway Lighting
Public street and highway lighting includes electricity supplied and services rendered for the purposes of lighting streets, highways, parks and other public places; or for traffic or other signal system service, for municipalities or other divisions or agencies of State or Federal governments.

Pumping Hours
The total number of hours a turbine/generator unit was operated as a pump/motor set (for hydro and pumped storage units only).