GTS, a subsidiary of Gasunie and operator of the Dutch gas transmission network, launched a new Open Season procedure to fulfil future capacity needs of customers.
This will be the fourth Open Season after three earlier successful open seasons, which have resulted in investment projects for expansions in the high-pressure gas network of GTS. With this Open Season GTS enables its customers to express their capacity requirements for the future and bundles these into an efficient investment programme. As a new feature, GTS will seek to fulfil capacity requests as far as possible with existing capacity by offering customers the possibilities to exchange capacity. In this way the secondary use of long term capacity can play a role in covering the demand for additional capacity, which benefits the optimal use of the gas network and the attractiveness of the ‘gas roundabout’.
Clear demand for capacity
Open Season 2017 (‘OS2017’) will mainly focus on capacity needs of customers in the Dutch gas network. The target date for delivery of additional capacity is October 2017. GTS decided to start this Open Season after having analysed a recent survey among customers, which has shown a clear demand for additional transport capacity in the ‘gas roundabout’ in the future. About 25 customers indicated to be interested in capacity development through a new open season.
Co-operation in gas roundabout area
To serve the interests of customers in this market area GTS will also work together with several neighbouring operators (gas transport, storage and LNG) by synchronising the marketing of gas infrastructure services in the neighbouring systems on the gas roundabout.
Rising demand for gas transport capacity
The steadily rising market demand for transport capacity in the GTS network is among others due to the shift from indigenous gas supply –on a European level- to imports from countries outside the EU, such as Norway, Russia and various LNG supply areas, is ongoing. Decline in indigenous gas supply also leads to an increasing need for gas storages to be able to respond to fluctuating market demand patterns in the future. Gas will play a crucial role in a sustainable European energy mix of the future. Its flexibility in use makes it ideal to compensate for the intermittency of supply from solar and wind energy. This also will require sufficient gas transmission capacity.
[mappress] LNG World News Staff, February 1, 2012