On June 8th 2017 draft of the Act on Reserves of natural gas and the Energy Law ( ustawa o zmianie ustawy o zapasach, produktów naftowych i gazu ziemnego) was published on polish parliament website. It will be proceeded, in simplified manner the same as last year when the storage obligation was restored. This means that the draft might be enacted before the parliament holidays – by the end of July.
Main proposed changes are as follows. Some of them are positive (eg. confirmation of possibility of ticket service in foreign countries), some of them are not so favorable to gas shippers, eg. obligation to book continuous capacity dedicated only to release mandatory stocks.
- removal of the obligation to present to the TSO the technical characteristics of the storage system in which the reserves will be stored (if located in the territory of Poland OSM (storage operator) will be obliged to provide such technical characteristics),
- if mandatory stocks of gas will be kept outside of Poland, it is necessary to book continuous capacity only to release mandatory stocks, without using them otherwise than for the purpose of release of mandatory stocks
- ticket services can be related to storages located outside the territory of Poland. This will remove uncertainty whether ticket services can be related to foreign storages.
- definition of the importing entity will be clarified and defined as the entity importing natural gas into Poland for own use;
- mandatory stocks can only be held physically in a specific storage facility. This excludes the possibility of fulfilling the obligation of mandatory stocks by the so-called „Virtual storage” where storage place is unknown;
- what is important and beneficial for new gas market entrants, at the stage of application for a license for cross border trade with natural gas (OGZ), the applicant will no longer be obliged to provide ERO with firm storage agreement.
- draft law introduce certain financial penalties – for non-informing ERO on commencement of gas shipping into territory of Poland, for using booked capacities otherwise than for the purpose of release of mandatory stocks. What is worth to mention that the penalties might be imposed in a range of 10 to 15% of company revenues.
- application for determine of mandatory stock for the period from 1.X.2017 to 30.IX.2018 should be submitted to ERO until August 5th 2017, based on data from 1.I.2017 to 30.VI.2017.
We will keep you posted on further legislative developments.
