Firm Transport (FT) vs Interruptible Service (IT)

Written By Manolo Martinez

Understanding the differences between Firm Transportation (FT) and Interruptible Transportation (IT) is essential for natural gas producers optimizing their supply on systems like NGTL^. Both services provide access to critical transportation service, but they differ significantly in reliability, cost, flexibility, and strategic fit.


Detailed Overview

Firm Transportation (FT) FT provides the highest level of reliability for moving natural gas. With top-priority rights, this makes FT ideal for anchoring long-term development plans, securing financing, and ensuring consistent delivery to markets.

While the fixed demand charges create a predictable cost structure, they require careful forecasting to avoid paying for unused FT contracts. FT contracts are typically multi-year commitments aligned with your reserves and production profile.

Interruptible Transportation (IT) IT offers valuable flexibility without long-term obligations. It serves as an excellent supplement to FT capacity or a low-commitment entry point for testing new opportunities. Under a single blanket agreement, you can access multiple receipt points as needed.

The trade-off is lower priority—IT service can be curtailed during constraints—and a higher per-unit toll (typically 15-20% above FT rates). This makes IT best for opportunistic or variable needs rather than base-load requirements.

Choosing the Right Option for Your Operations

  • Choose FT if you have stable, long-term production forecasts and need certainty to support development, contracts, or reserve bookings.

  • Choose IT if you want agility to respond to market opportunities, manage seasonal variations, or fill gaps in your firm capacity.

  • Many producers use both: FT for their core volumes and IT for upside or backup.

How Hummingbird Helps TOTEC’s Hummingbird platform simplifies navigating FT and IT decisions on the NGTL^ system. Through double-blind negotiations, real-time outage insights, digitized hydraulic model, and the free Digital Map, you can:

  • Identify and secure optimal FT contracts

  • Negotiate better terms in the marketplace

  • Monitor constraints and availability

  • Maximize the value of your transportation portfolio

Whether you're optimizing existing firm contracts or exploring new opportunities, Hummingbird empowers all NGTL shippers with data-driven tools to reduce risk and capture more value from the NGTL system.

^Disclaimer

Hummingbird is an independent digital marketplace operated by TOTEC Solutions Ltd. TOTEC Solutions is not affiliated with, partnered with, or endorsed by NGTL, TC Energy, or any other natural gas pipeline operator.

All information and analysis provided are developed solely by TOTEC based on publicly available data.

Manolo Martinez