Europe News

Latest news and developments from Europe region

• Repsol reportedly studies possibility of stake sale in Gas Natural

  June 13, 2013
  Spain’s oil and gas major Repsol has reportedly approached some European power companies in order to gauge their interest in buying a part or the entire stake in Spanish energy company Gas Natural.

• Ukraine hopes to reach consensus with Turkish government officials on gas supply via Turkey

  June 13, 2013
  The government officials of Ukraine hope that they will reach an agreement with the government officials of Turkey over the issue of the passage through Turkish straits of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers for Ukraine’s planned LNG terminal.

• Gasunie to restrict L-gas capacity bookings post-2020 [free access]

  June 11, 2013
  The Netherlands’ gas transmission system operator (TSO) Gasunie Transport System (GTS) has stated that long-term gas capacity bookings for low-calorific gas (L-gas) between the Netherlands and its neighbouring countries will be restricted after 2020.

• Market participants remain skeptical of additional PEG Nord–Sud capacity

  June 11, 2013
  French market participants believe that additional transport capacity on the link between the northern gas hub PEG Nord and the southern gas hub PEG Sud will have little impact on the gas market in France.

• French Storengy considering suspending some natural gas storage sites in gas year 2013–14

  June 11, 2013
  French storage operator Storengy is considering not using one or two storage sites located in northern France during the gas storage year 2013–14 given the small amounts of storage capacities being booked in the current gas year.

• Low price spreads reduce shippers’ interest in transport capacity at Austrian borders

  June 11, 2013
  The arbitrage opportunities between Austria and its neighbouring countries have diminished because of low price spreads between the gas hubs of the respective countries.

• HRADF fails to receive any binding bid for DEPA’s privatisation; receives SOCAR’s bid for DESFA

  June 11, 2013
  Greece’s ambitious privatisation plans suffered a major setback after the privatisation agency, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF), failed to receive any bid for the sale of state-owned natural gas company DEPA.

• ENTSOG supports view to cap or index-link reference prices for booking incremental gas capacity

  June 10, 2013
  The European Network for Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) has supported the view that the energy regulators of countries should cap or index-link annual increments in the price for natural gas pipeline capacity in a bid to encourage long-term bookings.

• Northern Ireland’s TSOs to form JV in order to function under single operating system

  June 10, 2013
  The regulator of Northern Ireland’s gas industry, Utility Regulator, has asked the existing transmission system operators (TSOs) in Northern Ireland to create a joint venture (JV) by October 2013 in order to function under a single operating system.

• Dutch parliament raises no objection against ending use of BPL for gas balancing

  June 10, 2013
  The parliament of the Netherlands has raised no objection to the proposal for ending the use of the balancing tool Bid Price Ladder (BPL) by shippers while reacting to system imbalances.

• French energy regulator CRE urges BNetzA to implement mechanism for overbooking capacities

  June 10, 2013
  France’s energy regulator CRE has urged its counterpart in Germany, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), to implement a mechanism for overbooking natural gas transport capacity from October 1, 2013 in response to a market consultation launched by BNetzA.

• Vopak and Shell considering setting up LNG storage terminal in France

  June 10, 2013
  The Netherlands’ oil storage firm Royal Vopak and its oil and gas firm Royal Dutch Shell are considering setting up a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage terminal in France and are currently undertaking a feasibility study for the construction of the same.

• Greece’s private energy companies to start importing gas from Turkey

  June 10, 2013
  Greece’s private energy company Terna will start importing gas via the existing interconnector between Greece and Turkey from July 1, 2013 for a period of three months.

• Lithuania expects to conclude negotiations on LNG purchase agreements in third quarter of 2013

  June 10, 2013
  The government of Lithuania expects to conclude negotiations on the agreements for the purchase of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the planned LNG terminal in the third quarter of 2013.

• RWE, Gazprom fail to reach out-of-court settlement of gas price dispute

  June 10, 2013
  Germany’s energy firm RWE and Russia’s gas major Gazprom have failed to reach an out-of-court settlement in a dispute over gas prices under the long-term gas contract between the two countries.

• Ofgem launches review on price-formation process in British gas markets

  June 6, 2013
  Britain’s energy regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), has launched a review of the way price reporting agencies (PRAs) set wholesale gas prices in the British gas market.

• Gazprom and Novatek reportedly fail to form JV for Yamal LNG plant

  June 6, 2013
  Russia’s gas major Gazprom and the country’s largest independent gas producer Novatek have reportedly failed to finalise a deal to set up a joint venture (JV) for the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on the Yamal Peninsula in Russia.

• Finnish government reportedly plans to increase its stake in Gasum

  June 5, 2013
  The government of Finland reportedly plans to ask the Finnish parliament to increase its budgetary funds in June 2013 so that these could then be used to increase its stake in Finland’s natural gas transmission system operator (TSO) Gasum.

• Romania declares Nabucco a Project of National Interest and Public Utility

  June 5, 2013
  The government of Romania has enacted a law declaring Nabucco West gas pipeline project a ‘Project of National Interest and Public Utility’.

• German–Polish capacity auction elicits high market interest

  June 5, 2013
  The first auction of the bundled transmission capacity between Germany and Poland elicited high market interest, as 98 per cent of the total offered capacity of 58 MWh per hour was sold in the auctions at a price of EUR2.87 per kWh per hour.