On 7th of September, a regional meeting of the
representatives of national regulatory authorities for energy (NRAs) and the
natural gas transmission system operators (TSOs) of the Baltic States and
Finland took place in Klaipėda, where pricing guidelines for the service of transmission
of natural gas were discussed.
In the short-term period of 2018–2020, the
pricing model for entry and exit points would be applied to the gas market of
the Baltic States that includes Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In an effort to
create equal competitive conditions to all the suppliers in the region, the
same entry tariffs would be applied to every entry point in the region. In
addition to that, the TSOs are obligated to agree on the mechanism for Inter
TSOs Compensation within the region.
In the long-term period, i.e. from 2020 and
beyond, the same entry tariffs for transmission of natural gas would be applied
to entry points in the entire Baltic-Finnish region: they would be calculated
by applying the most optimal methodology, chosen from three alternatives
(postage stamp; capacity weighted distance; and matrix).
The representatives of the NRAs’ of the Baltic
States and Finland intend to sign the document that would elaborate on said pricing
guidelines for the service of transmission of natural gas in the near future,
after an additional consultation with the TSOs’.
It is also planned to conduct a comparison of
the results of different pricing calculation models for entry and exit points,
which would serve as the basis for a decision on an optimal solution for the
regional Baltic-Finnish natural gas market, starting from 2020. An
international procurement will be executed for said modelling – a joint
agreement on the procedures of the execution of said procurement was signed by
the representatives of the Baltic and Finnish NRAs’.
The agreement between the Baltic and Finnish NRAs’
on the regional pricing guidelines for the transmission of natural gas will
allow to increase the liquidity of natural gas trade in the region and create
equal competitive conditions for suppliers importing natural gas from different
import sources, which should lead to competitive pricing of natural gas for all
the users in the region and would allow a more effective utilisation of the
natural gas infrastructure in the region. In order to implement the said
pricing guidelines, relevant laws and other legislation will have to be
changed, thus, participation from all the interested parties will be necessary.
The pricing guidelines for the service of
transmission of natural gas, are prepared in implementing the action plan for
the formation of the common regional natural gas market which was approved by
the Regional Gas Market Coordination Group, established by the Baltic Energy
Market Interconnection Plan (BEMIP).
