The subscription window for long-term storage held from 21 November until 16 December has shown particularly strong demand, Fluxys said today.
With 400 million cubic metres of storage capacity on offer, overall demand from market participants totalled 600 million cubic metres. The available capacity was sold for the maximum period of 10 years to major suppliers active on the Northwest European market.
As from storage year 2012-2013 all system users and the end users directly connected to the Fluxys grid can conclude long-term contracts for storage at the Loenhout facility. Previously the legal and regulatory framework provided only for yearly contracts to be allocated in priority to system users supplying local distribution networks.
The new storage regime allowing for long-term bookings has been established in close coordination with market participants as well as the Belgian federal energy regulator CREG and has two major advantages. On the one hand, it contributes to security of supply for end-users as it enables market participants to secure supply flexibility on a long-term basis. At the same time these long-term commitments provide a sound basis for Fluxys to plan and fund further capacity development at the Loenhout storage facility.
Apart from the storage capacity available for long-term bookings, Fluxys also holds an overall capacity of 280 million cubic metres available for yearly bookings during storage year 2012-2013. System users and the end users directly connected to the Fluxys grid can subscribe to these yearly storage services during the auction window to be launched on 25 January 2012.
[mappress]
LNG World News Staff, December 22, 2011