Bulletin Board FAQs

There are no facility exemptions, only exemptions on providing information. 

A BB participant may be granted an exemption on providing information, to the Bulletin Board via one of two pathways:

• Where that information will be provided by another person. The most common example of this is where two pipelines intersect and one of the BB participants will provide the information and the other BB participant will apply for an exemption. All other information, required to be submitted under the Rules, still needs to be submitted by the participant holding the exemption.
• Where a large user facility already has its consumption data submitted by another BB reporting entity or the data is already available to AEMO using automated processes from other markets it operates or administers. 

The participant who applies for the exemption must provide supporting evidence. Where information is to be provided by another BB reporting entity, they need to provide written confirmation that will be providing the information and endorse the exemption. This acknowledges that they will take on the function of BB reporting entity for the information. AEMO may seek further evidence to confirm that the exemption can be granted. For large user facility consumption data, evidence is typically not required from the BB reporting entity already providing the data.

All other information not subject to the exemption is still required to be submitted under the Rules by the BB reporting entity.

All pipelines connected to a production facility need to be registered as BB pipelines. Pipelines are considered to be part of a production facility if (noting there may be exceptions to the following):

• the pipeline connects the production facility directly to another BB facility
• there is only one receipt point (the production facility) and only one delivery point on the pipeline
• there are no storage services provided by the pipeline

If a pipeline is defined as a lateral gathering pipeline, then it does not need to be registered. A pipeline is defined as a lateral gathering pipeline if:

• the pipeline is operated as part of an upstream producing operation;
• the pipeline is used principally to transport natural gas for injection into a BB facility operated as part of the upstream producing operation where that BB facility is not itself a lateral gathering pipeline; and

AEMO is satisfied that the facility is not material.

Pipelines are considered to be part of a large user facility if (noting there may be exceptions to the following):

• the pipeline connects the large user facility directly to another BB facility
• there is only one receipt point (the large user facility) and only one delivery point on the pipeline
• there are no storage services provided by the pipeline

To reset or change your API password, see the Guide to User Rights Management.

BB reporting entities are obligated under the rules to provide nomination and forecast information for their relevant facilities (excluding large user facilities and LNG export facilities).

Participants should notify AEMO of any general business practices that may impact on the ability to comply with this requirement.

Material change is defined in the Rules.

For nominations and forecasts it is a change that exceeds the greater of A and B where:

• A is 5 TJ
• B is the lesser of 10% of the nameplate rating of the BB facility and 30 TJ

Further information is specified in Section 6.4.2(g) of the BB Procedures available on the Procedures and Guides page.

(i) If there is a material change to the Forecasts for a specific delivery point or a receipt point (as applicable); or

(ii) the changes to Forecasts for all delivery points or receipt points for a BB pipeline for a gas day aggregate to a number that meets the material change threshold,

the BB reporting entity must provide the updated information on that gas day.

Note: For aggregation in this provision, any change to volumes will always be deemed to be a positive number irrespective whether the gas flow is a delivery or receipt, or whether the volume has increased or decreased. A change to a receipt point or delivery point will always increase the aggregate and therefore increase the likelihood that the threshold for material change will be met.

An estimate of the data can should be submitted, with quality flag “OK”. It is the responsibility of the BB reporting entity to update this data when better quality information is available. An alternative is to provide a NIL submission.

This can be a default description as nameplate capacity is carried over from day to day. You will only need to change the description once a material change has either increased or decreased the standing capacity of the facility.

Changes to capacity are required to be submitted to the BB.

For short term capacity outlooks (as per 6.3.1(b) of the BB Procedures):

• The short term capacity outlook for each BB facility must include the short term capacity outlook for each corresponding nameplate rating capacity of that facility.

For medium term capacity outlooks (as per 6.3.3(b) of the BB Procedures):

• The medium term capacity outlook for each facility type must include the medium term capacity outlook for each corresponding nameplate rating capacity of that facility

Yes. Each connection point must be submitted for both actual, nominations and forecasts.

For production facilities, only one aggregated number is required for daily submissions.

All submission cut off times are in market time which is in AEST, i.e. exclusive of daylight saving.

The  receipt location (point) and  delivery location (point) represent a leg and may also be the two ends of a facility.

The parameters configurable by AEMO for validation are:

A soft warning (yellow message) will appear when submitting higher than capacity or 1.3x the capacity, and the submission will be allowed to pass.

Submission cut-off times for daily production and flow is 1pm EST on gas day D. A full set of data for a BB reporting entity must be submitted by that time under the rules.

A BB reporting entity must provide to AEMO the information listed under rules 171A (Information about BB field interests) and 171B (Information relating to reserves and resources) for each of its BB field interests. When providing a reserves and resources estimate to AEMO (including any update), a BB reporting entity must at the same time provide to the AER the gas price assumptions used in preparing estimates and a verification statement.

No, specific gas price assumptions are only to be submitted to the AER as per rule 171C.

No, if a BB reporting entity does not have any reserves, they are not required to provide gas price assumptions to the AER.

No, a BB reporting entity is only required to provide to AEMO the information listed under rule 171A (Information about BB field interests) on registration of the BB field interest.

A BB reporting entity must provide information relating to reserves and resources no later than 40 business days after the end of the reserves reporting year for the BB field interest.

The reserves reporting year for a BB field interest is each 12-month period ending on the date nominated by the BB reporting entity on registration of the BB field interest, or if no date is nominated, ending on 30 June.

Yes, the BB Procedures allows an agreement to be made between AEMO and the BB reporting entity for a BB field interest to amend the date as well as the reasonable adjustment to the 12-month reporting period when transitioning to the new date.

If you have access to AEMO IT systems, all submissions are to be made via CSV upload to Markets Portal or via API. If you do not have access to AEMO IT systems (registered for GBB Simplified), all submissions are to be made via email to bbo@aemo.com.au.

The reserves and resources submission template is an embedded excel file located within the Gas Field Interest Registration Form.

A facility operator group occurs when there is more than one owner, operator or controller for a BB facility and the facility operator is taken to be a member of a facility operator group for that BB facility. All members of the facility operator group must apply to register and will nominate one of the members to be the responsible facility operator (i.e. the BB reporting entity).

A field owner group is made up of two or more persons with net revenue interests in a gas field. The group can be made up of persons that are closely related entities, or, persons that are engaged in joint marketing. The field owner group nominates one member to become the responsible field owner and to register as the BB reporting entity for the group of field interests.

There are several facilities that are not required to register on the Bulletin Board because of either being a remote BB facility, a lateral gathering pipeline, or due to not meeting the applicable reporting threshold.