Scenario 11 — Pipeline Material (Natural Gas Continuous Flow)
We executed this whole pipeline cycle live, start to finish. Every code below is the real one on the system — nothing to translate. The money story matches exactly: 50,000 m³ × ₨50 = ₨2,500,000.
| Step | What we did | Live document |
|---|---|---|
| Material | MM01 — pipeline material, type PIPE | PIPE-GAS-01 "Natural Gas (Pipeline)" |
| Info record | ME11 — info category Pipeline, ₨50/m³ | 5300079963 |
| Consumption | MIGO — mvt 201 Special Stock P | mat. doc 4900423476 · FI doc 4400000007 |
| Settlement | MRKO — Pipeline settlement | settlement doc 3600000011 |
| Payment | F-53 — pay the supplier | payment doc 4900000006 |
Nice surprise: this run needed no new system settings. The consumption account 400000, the pipeline-liability account 169900, and the settlement output message were already in place — because Scenario 9 and Scenario 10 built them, and pipeline reuses the very same plumbing. The Prerequisites box lists what must be there; the Errors box shows the messages you'd see if any were missing on a fresh setup.
Supplier note: we reuse our standing vendor MUGHAL21 so this scenario connects to Scenarios 9 & 10. In real life a pipeline supplier is a utility (a gas, power or water company) — the mechanics are identical whichever vendor you use.
📊 Business Case — When & Why You Use This
Pipeline procurement covers materials that are continuously available through a physical connection — natural gas, electricity, water — where there's no discrete delivery to receive. You don't raise a PO and you don't post a goods receipt; you simply record what you consumed (from a meter reading) and settle with the supplier periodically. It's the natural model for utilities feeding a plant around the clock.
🕐 When to use it
For utilities that flow without individual deliveries — natural gas, electricity, water. Anything metered and consumed continuously rather than received in batches.
❓ Why it matters
It removes pointless paperwork: no PO, no GR for something that never arrives as a "shipment." Expense is booked from the meter reading at consumption, and the supplier is paid through periodic MRKO settlement.
👤 Who triggers it
Purchasing sets up the pipeline info record (vendor + price); plant staff record the monthly meter reading as a consumption posting; accounts payable run MRKO to generate the invoice.
🔁 The key distinction
Continuously available, never stocked. Unlike consignment (which holds physical vendor stock), pipeline material has no PO and no GR and no stock to track — you only ever post consumption (mvt 201 with special stock P), settled periodically.
💰 Financial Impact — The Easy-Money Example
The gas supplier pipes natural gas to PakSteel Karachi all month. At month-end the meter reads 50,000 m³ at ₨50/m³. There's no receipt event — the money story is simply: read the meter, book the expense, settle:
The big idea: there's no goods receipt to post and no inventory to value — the expense is recognized at the moment of consumption (the meter reading), against a pipeline liability, and that liability is converted to a payable only at the periodic MRKO run.
169900 liability account) as consignment (Scenario 10).
🇵🇰 The Business Story
🎯 What you'll learn
- Material type
PIPE— the dedicated "Pipeline materials" type (no stock, no MRP views) - Special Stock
P— "pipeline" — no physical stock is ever tracked - No PO needed — the pipeline info record alone defines vendor + price
- Direct consumption via MIGO, mvt 201 with Special Stock
P(not MB1A — that transaction is obsolete) - MRKO settles the consumption into an invoice — same engine as consignment
📋 Prerequisites — what must be in the system (and why)
These are the compulsory master-data records and settings the pipeline cycle needs, all verified live. On our system the account/message settings were already in place (Scenarios 9 & 10 created them), so the run posted cleanly — but if you build pipeline on a fresh company code you must have every item below, or you'll meet the messages in the Errors box. The two pipeline-specific extras are ① the material type and ② the info record; the rest are shared with consignment.
① Master data — the records the steps use
| Record | Live value | What it is · why the scenario needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Pipeline material | PIPE-GAS-01 (type PIPE, plant PK01, base unit M3, valuation class 3000) | The gas itself. Pipeline material is never stocked, so it uses the special material type PIPE — no storage/MRP views. Needed because every consumption posting refers to this material and reads its valuation class for account determination. |
| Pipeline info record | 5300079963 (ME11, category Pipeline, ₨50/m³, tax I0) | The vendor's saved price page. Needed because with no PO anywhere in the cycle, this is the only place SAP finds the vendor and the per-unit price that values each consumption. |
| Supplier (vendor) | MUGHAL21 — extended to purch org PKLO + company code PSPK | Who gets paid at settlement. Needed because MRKO must move the pipeline liability onto a real vendor account (AP), so the vendor needs purchasing + company-code data. |
PIPE🎯 In plain words: gas that flows through a pipe never sits on a shelf, so it must not be treated like stock. SAP has a dedicated material type, PIPE ("Pipeline materials"), for exactly this.
- What to set: in MM01 pick material type
PIPE. Maintain only three views — Basic Data 1 (description, base unit, material group), Purchasing (purchasing group), Accounting 1 (valuation class + a price). No MRP, no storage views. - Why SAP needs it: PIPE tells SAP "quantity flows, but there is no stock to receive or value on a shelf." That is what allows the special-stock-P consumption later with no PO and no GR.
- What breaks without it: create the gas as a normal stocked type (ROH/HALB) and SAP will expect a goods receipt and a stock value that never exist for pipeline — the pipeline consumption path won't work.
- ✅ How you'll know it worked: MM03 shows the material with type PIPE and only the three views; the Accounting view carries valuation class
3000.
400000, via GBB / VBR)🎯 In plain words: when you record the gas as used, the cost has to land somewhere — an expense line on the production department's budget. SAP finds that account automatically from the material's valuation class.
- What to set: account determination OBYC → transaction key GBB, general modification VBR (consumption to a cost centre), valuation class 3000 → G/L
400000"Consumption, raw materials". The G/L must exist in company codePSPK(FS00). - Why SAP needs it: the debit side of the consumption posting is a cost. Without a mapped account, SAP cannot decide where to book the expense.
- What breaks without it: "Account determination for GBB VBR … not possible", or "G/L account 400000 does not exist in company code PSPK".
- ✅ How you'll know it worked: the consumption's FI document (ours =
4400000007) shows Dr 400000 against the cost centrePKKHI-PROD. On our system this already worked because Scenario 9 set up the consumption accounts for valuation class 3000.
169900, via KON) — shared with consignment🎯 In plain words: the credit side of the consumption is "we now owe the supplier for this gas." That debt waits on a special liability account until the monthly settlement turns it into a normal bill.
- What to set: OBYC → transaction key KON (consignment / pipeline payables), valuation class 3000 → G/L
169900"Payables from consignment/pipeline". Create the G/L inPSPKvia FS00 (copy from company code 0001). - Why SAP needs it: pipeline (and consignment) don't create a vendor invoice at consumption time — they accrue the debt on this liability account, and MRKO later clears it into AP.
- What breaks without it: "G/L account 169900 does not exist in company code PSPK" at the consumption posting.
- ✅ How you'll know it worked: the consumption FI document shows Cr 169900; the MRKO settlement (ours =
3600000011) shows Dr 169900. This is the same account Scenario 10 created — pipeline reuses it, so no new setup was needed here.
🎯 In plain words: MRKO doesn't just post numbers — it also "issues" a settlement document to the vendor, and it refuses to run unless it knows how to output that document for this partner.
- What to set: MRM1 → output type KONS → key combination "CoCde" → company code
PSPK, partner functionLF, partnerMUGHAL21, medium1(print), dispatch time4, output deviceLP01. - Why SAP needs it: consignment/pipeline settlement is driven by output determination; no message record = MRKO has nothing to issue and rolls the settlement back.
- What breaks without it: MRKO reports "Consignment settlement: no message was found for partner MUGHAL21 / company code" and no document is created (see Scenario 10, where we first hit and fixed this).
- ✅ How you'll know it worked: MRKO returns "Document created" with a settlement number. Because Scenario 10 already created this record for MUGHAL21, our pipeline settlement posted first try.
🔧 Step-by-Step
| Step | T-code | What it does | Why this step exists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11.1 | MM01 + ME11 | Create the gas material (type PIPE) and the vendor's saved price | with no PO, something must name the vendor and the price |
| 11.2 | MIGO (201-P) | Book the meter reading as consumption — expense plus liability | gas already used must be charged to a budget |
| 11.3 | MRKO | Turn the piled-up liability into a real vendor invoice | the supplier must be billed for what flowed |
| 11.4 | F-53 | Pay the supplier — vendor cleared, bank goes down | a purchase isn't finished until the vendor is paid |
Material PIPE-GAS-01 · Vendor MUGHAL21 · Plant PK01 · SLoc n/a (no stock) · Purch org PKLO · Purch group RMT · Company code PSPK · Info record 5300079963 · Price ₨50 / m³ · Qty 50,000 m³ · Cost centre PKKHI-PROD · Bank G/L 113100 · Consumption G/L 400000 · Pipeline-liability G/L 169900.
A07 Goods Issue · Reference R10 Other · Movement type 201 · Special Stock P (pipeline). The movement text will read "GI pipel.for cst cnt" — that confirms 201 + P is pipeline consumption to a cost centre. Do not use MB1A — it is obsolete (SAP note 2210569).
📦 Master Data
11.1 — Pipeline material (MM01) + Pipeline info record (ME11)
⚡ This step will: create the two master-data records — the gas material and the vendor's price page — that together replace the PO for the whole cycle. 📄 paper: material master + pipeline info record · 📦 stock: none (pipeline is never stocked) · 💰 money: no posting
Do — part A, the material (MM01):
| Where on screen · Field | Fill | What the field asks (plain words) | Why we choose this — and the impact if wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial · Material | PIPE-GAS-01 | What is the material's ID? | The code that names the gas. Impact: every consumption posting in 11.2 refers to this number. |
| Initial · Industry sector | M (Mechanical engineering) | Which screen layout family? | Any valid sector works; M matches our plant. Impact: only affects which fields appear. |
| Initial · Material Type | PIPE (Pipeline materials) | What KIND of material is this? | The dedicated pipeline type — no stock, no MRP. Impact: a normal type makes SAP expect a GR/stock value that never happens for pipeline (see Prerequisite ②). |
| Select Views | Basic Data 1 · Purchasing · Accounting 1 | Which pages to maintain? | Only these three are needed for pipeline. Impact: extra views just add empty screens. |
| Org. Levels · Plant | PK01 | Which plant consumes the gas? | Karachi Factory. Impact: the material must exist in the plant that will post consumption. |
| Basic Data 1 · Description / Base Unit | Natural Gas (Pipeline) / M3 | Name and unit of measure? | Gas is metered in cubic metres. Impact: the unit must match the meter reading and the info-record price unit. |
| Basic Data 1 · Material Group | 01 | Which purchasing group-of-goods? | Any valid group; mandatory field. Impact: blank is rejected. |
| Purchasing · Purchasing Group | RMT | Which buying team? | Our raw-materials buyers. Impact: reporting/ownership only. |
| Accounting 1 · Valuation Class | 3000 | Which account bucket? | Drives account determination for both the consumption (400000) and the liability (169900). Impact: a wrong class points to the wrong accounts. |
| Accounting 1 · Price control / Price | V · 50 | How is the material valued? | A price is mandatory even though pipeline isn't stocked. Impact: leave it blank and SAP warns "enter a moving average price". |
Tip: on the Accounting view the Valuation Class field may look greyed out at first; enter the price, press Enter once, and it becomes editable.
Do — part B, the info record (ME11):
| Where on screen · Field | Fill | What the field asks (plain words) | Why we choose this — and the impact if wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial · Supplier | MUGHAL21 | WHO supplies the gas? | With no PO in the cycle, this record is the ONLY place SAP finds the vendor. Impact: a wrong vendor bills the wrong supplier at MRKO. |
| Initial · Material | PIPE-GAS-01 | A price for WHAT? | Ties the price to the gas material. Impact: a mismatch means the consumption finds no price. |
| Initial · Purch. Org / Plant | PKLO / PK01 | For which buying org & plant? | Our Karachi local purch org and plant. Impact: must match where consumption is posted. |
| Info Category (radio) | Pipeline | Which KIND of deal is this price? | Pipeline = pay per unit consumed, no PO ever. Impact: the wrong category means the special-stock-P consumption in 11.2 finds no price. |
| Purch. Org Data 1 · Net Price | PKR 50 / M3 | What do you owe PER m³ CONSUMED? | Every consumption is valued at this rate. Impact: 50,000 m³ should post 50,000 × ₨50 = ₨2,500,000. |
| Purch. Org Data 1 · Tax Code | I0 | Which input-tax rate? | 0% input tax. Impact: a missing/invalid tax code makes MRKO settlement fail — tax code is mandatory for pipeline info records. |
| Purch. Org Data 1 · Pl. Deliv. Time / Std Qty | 1 / 50000 | Lead time & typical quantity? | Both are mandatory. Pipeline flows continuously, so lead time is nominal (1 day). Impact: blank is rejected. |
Result on our system: "Purchasing info record 5300079963 PKLO P PK01 created" — the P confirms the Pipeline category.
🔄 Transaction Flow (no PO!)
11.2 — Record consumption · MIGO mvt 201 Special Stock P
⚡ This step will: book the month's meter reading as consumption — the expense hits the cost centre now, and a "we owe the supplier" liability appears. 📄 paper: material + accounting document · 📦 stock: no change (pipeline is never stocked) · 💰 money: Dr Consumption 400000 / Cr Pipeline Liability 169900
Do: MIGO → Action A07 Goods Issue, Reference R10 Other, movement 201, Special Stock P → fill the item tabs below → Check → Post. This one posting replaces PO, GR and invoice entry — it's the only transaction of the month.
- Material tab → type
PIPE-GAS-01into the Material (description) field - Quantity tab →
50000, unitM3 - Where tab → type the plant
PK01into the receiving-name field (the plant field itself is locked) - Account Assignment tab → Cost Center
PKKHI-PROD(G/L 400000 is found automatically) - Partner tab → Vendor
MUGHAL21(the pipeline supplier this consumption is owed to)
| Field | Fill | What the field asks (plain words) | Why we choose this — and the impact if wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Movement type | 201 | WHY is material being booked out? A movement type is a reason code | 201 = consumption for a cost centre — "a department used it." Impact: the wrong code wouldn't charge the gas to a budget. |
| Special Stock | P | Consumed from WHAT kind of supply? Blank = your own shelf · K = a vendor's shelf in your store (Scenario 10) · P = pipeline, straight from the pipe | P tells SAP to value it with the pipeline info record and note it as owed to the vendor. Impact: leave P off and SAP looks for own stock that doesn't exist — the posting fails, or no pipeline liability is created. |
| Material | PIPE-GAS-01 | WHICH material flowed in? | The pipeline gas from 11.1. Impact: the wrong material finds no pipeline price. |
| Quantity | 50,000 M3 | HOW MUCH flowed this month? The meter reading | There is no goods receipt anywhere — this number is the only record of what you took. Impact: 50,000 × ₨50 = ₨2,500,000. |
| Cost Center | PKKHI-PROD | WHOSE budget pays? | Production burned the gas. Impact: no cost centre = the posting is rejected. |
| Vendor (Partner tab) | MUGHAL21 | WHO gets paid at settlement? | Pipeline consumption is tracked per vendor, so MRKO later knows this money belongs to MUGHAL21. Impact: the wrong vendor bills the wrong supplier. |
What changes at this exact moment (our FI document 4400000007):
| Consumption, raw materials (400000) | Dr 2,500,000 | expense on cost centre PKKHI-PROD |
| Payables from consignment/pipeline (169900) | Cr 2,500,000 | "we now owe MUGHAL21 for this gas" |
Result on our system: "Material document 4900423476 posted" — Check first returned "Document is O.K." because valuation class 3000 already had accounts 400000 and 169900 mapped.
11.3 — Monthly Settlement · MRKO
⚡ This step will: turn the piled-up pipeline liability into a real vendor invoice — SAP writes the bill itself, no MIRO needed. 📄 paper: settlement invoice document · 📦 stock: no change · 💰 money: Dr Pipeline Liability 169900 / Cr Vendor
Same engine as consignment (Scenario 10, step 10.5), just with the Pipeline flag. MRKO is a selection screen — fill the filters and Execute; there's no document to type.
Do: MRKO → fill the selection below → run Display first to preview, then Settle + Execute (F8):
| Field / Action | Fill | What it asks (plain words) | Why — and the impact if wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company Code | PSPK | Settle in WHICH company's books? | The legal company that carries the gas bill. Impact: wrong code raises the bill in the wrong books. |
| Supplier | MUGHAL21 | Settle WHOSE consumption? | The supplier to be paid. Impact: the wrong vendor bills the wrong supplier. |
| Plant | PK01 | Which plant's consumption? | Narrows the selection. Impact: optional; leaving it blank just widens the search. |
| Category · Pipeline ✔ / Consignment ✘ | tick Pipeline, untick Consignment | Settling WHICH kind of special procurement? | MRKO settles both, so you choose. Impact: tick Consignment only and it finds no pipeline withdrawals. |
| Processing · Display → Settle | Display, then Settle | Preview or post? | Display shows the unsettled ₨2,500,000; Settle posts it. Impact: good habit — check before you post. |
| Execute (F8) | — | What does Execute do? | Creates the invoice from the recorded consumption and moves the pipeline liability into normal AP. Impact: until you run it, the used gas sits as a liability and the supplier is never invoiced. |
What changes at this exact moment (settlement doc 3600000011):
| Payables from consignment/pipeline (169900) | Dr 2,500,000 | the "we owe MUGHAL21" liability from 11.2 is emptied |
| Vendor MUGHAL21 (AP) | Cr 2,500,000 | now a real payable, waiting for payment |
Like consignment, pipeline settles through MRKO, not MIRO — the invoice is created for you. But pipeline goes further: there was never a PO and never a goods receipt. The only transaction all month was the 201-P consumption (11.2). MRKO simply turns the piled-up liability into a payable.
Result on our system: "Document created" → settlement doc 3600000011 (₨2,500,000). It posted first try because MUGHAL21 already had the KONS output record (Prerequisite ⑤) from Scenario 10.
11.4 — Pay the supplier · F-53 (closes the money loop)
⚡ This step will: pay the debt: the vendor's account clears and the bank shrinks. 📄 paper: payment document · 📦 stock: no change · 💰 money: Dr Vendor / Cr Bank 113100
Do: F-53 → fill the header → bank data → Process Open Items → make the balance 0.00 → Post. Same manual outgoing payment as Scenario 1, Step 5. Tip: type /nF-53 in the command field — the hyphen trips some launchers.
| Where on screen · Field | Fill | What it asks (plain words) | Why — and the impact if wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Header · Document / Posting Date | today | When did the payment happen? | Same-day defaults are right. Impact: a date in a closed period is rejected. |
| Header · Company Code | PSPK | From WHOSE books does the cash leave? | PSPK owes MUGHAL21. Impact: wrong code pays from the wrong books. |
| Header · Currency | PKR | In WHICH money do you pay? | The payable is in PKR. Impact: a wrong currency mis-converts. |
| Bank data · Account (G/L) | 113100 | From WHICH bank account? | 113100 is the Bank Main Account — the same one Scenario 1 paid from. Impact: a wrong G/L drains the wrong ledger. |
| Bank data · Amount / Value date | 2,500,000 / today | HOW MUCH leaves the bank & when is it valued? | Matches the MRKO payable. Impact: pay less and part of the debt stays open. |
| Open item selection · Account | MUGHAL21 | WHOSE bill are you paying? | The supplier whose payable you're clearing. Impact: the wrong vendor shows no matching item. |
| Process Open Items · select the invoice | Assigned = 2,500,000 · Not Assigned 0.00 🟢 | Which exact open item does this cash clear? | MUGHAL21 has other old items, so isolate just the ₨2.5M settlement (see tip below). Impact: if "Not Assigned" ≠ 0, SAP won't Post. |
| Toolbar · Post | note the payment document number | Make the payment real? | Post writes the cash-out and clears the payable. Impact: until you Post, MUGHAL21 stays open. |
2500000 — SAP activates just the matching ₨2.5M settlement and the balance goes to 0.00. (This "amount search" avoids the fiddly activate button.)
What changes at this exact moment (payment doc 4900000006):
| Vendor MUGHAL21 (AP) | Dr 2,500,000 | the payable MRKO created in 11.3 is cleared |
| Bank Main Account (113100) | Cr 2,500,000 | cash leaves the bank — the debt is gone |
Everything unusual about pipeline sat at the front of the cycle — no purchase order, no goods receipt, and MRKO (not MIRO) built the invoice. But once a payable exists, the back of the cycle is identical to every other scenario: F-53 debits the vendor and credits the bank, exactly as in Scenario 1. A payable is a payable, however it was born.
Result on our system: "Document 4900000006 was posted in company code PSPK" — MUGHAL21's ₨2,500,000 pipeline payable is cleared.
🐞 Errors we hit live — and how to fix them
Our run posted cleanly because Scenarios 9 & 10 had already built the shared accounts and the settlement message. But those are exactly the things a fresh pipeline setup is missing — so below are the messages you'll meet on a new company code, in plain words, each linked to the Prerequisite that clears it. (The first two we actually hit while creating the material.)
| Where it appears | The message SAP shows | What it means & why it happens | How to fix it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Material — 11.1 (MM01) | "Make an entry in mandatory field Material Group" / "The material group 001 does not exist" | Material group is required and must be a real code. We tried a made-up value first. | Use a valid group — we picked 01 from the F4 list. |
| Material — 11.1 (MM01, Accounting) | "With price control V, enter a moving average price" | Even though pipeline isn't stocked, the Accounting view still needs a price. | Enter a moving average price (we used 50); the valuation-class field then unlocks — Prerequisite ②. |
| Consumption — 11.2 (MIGO) | "G/L account 400000 does not exist in company code PSPK" (fresh system) | The debit side of consumption has no expense account mapped for valuation class 3000. | Create/assign the consumption account — Prerequisite ③ (FS00 + OBYC GBB/VBR). Ours already existed from Sc9. |
| Consumption — 11.2 (MIGO) | "G/L account 169900 does not exist in company code PSPK" (fresh system) | The credit side (the pipeline liability) has no account in this company code. | Create it — Prerequisite ④ (FS00 copy from 0001 · OBYC key KON). Ours already existed from Sc10. |
| Consumption — 11.2 (MIGO) | Account 400000 "requires a CO account assignment" | The consumption expense is a cost account, so it needs a cost object. | Enter a Cost Center (PKKHI-PROD) on the Account Assignment tab (or set a default via OKB9). |
| Settlement — 11.3 (MRKO) | "Consignment settlement: no message was found for partner MUGHAL21 / company code" (fresh vendor) | MRKO can't issue the settlement document — no output message record for this partner, so it rolls the whole settlement back. | Create the KONS output record — Prerequisite ⑤ (MRM1). Ours already existed from Sc10, so MRKO said "Document created" first try. |
| Settlement — 11.3 (MRKO) | "For document type RE, an entry is required in field Reference" (fresh system) | The settlement invoice uses doc type RE, which may demand a reference number. | Make the reference optional for RE — OBA7 → doc type RE → untick "Reference number" (fixed once in Scenario 10). |
✅ Verification — Confirm Scenario 11 Worked
- MB51 → filter Material
PIPE-GAS-01→ see the mvt 201 (Special Stock P) consumption line, material doc4900423476. - FB03 → FI doc
4400000007→ Dr 400000 (consumption) and Cr 169900 (pipeline liability), ₨2,500,000. - After MRKO → settlement doc
3600000011moves the ₨2,500,000 from 169900 into a normal MUGHAL21 payable (Dr 169900 / Cr vendor). - FBL1N → MUGHAL21 → after payment
4900000006the pipeline invoice shows as cleared; FBL3N → 113100 shows the ₨2,500,000 cash-out.
🎓 Interview-Ready Answers
Q: How does pipeline procurement differ from consignment?
Both defer the payable to a periodic MRKO settlement and both use the same liability account (KON → 169900). But consignment involves physical vendor stock staged at your site (special stock K) that you receive (mvt 101) and later consume. Pipeline material (special stock P) is continuously available through a connection — gas, electricity, water — with no PO and no goods receipt and no stock tracked at all; you only ever post consumption (mvt 201 with special stock P).
Q: Why is there no PO or goods receipt for pipeline material?
Because the material isn't delivered as discrete shipments — it flows continuously. There's nothing to "receive." The pipeline info record alone defines the vendor and the price, and consumption is recorded directly in MIGO (mvt 201 with special stock P), typically from a meter reading. (Note: the old MB1A transaction is obsolete — use MIGO.)
Q: When is the expense recognized and how is the vendor paid?
The expense is booked at consumption — the posting debits a consumption account (here 400000) and credits a pipeline liability (169900). The vendor is paid via periodic MRKO settlement, which converts the accumulated liability into a normal vendor invoice, then paid through F-53/F110.
Q: What material type and account keys does pipeline use?
Material type PIPE ("Pipeline materials") — no stock/MRP views. Account determination: consumption via GBB / VBR (to the cost centre), and the pipeline liability via transaction key KON — the same key consignment uses, which is why both post to G/L 169900 in our system.