Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan GRIP 2017

2.2 Market Players

The BEMIP region has, in all, seven Transmission System Operators (TSOs) that own natural gas grids in their respective countries: Energinet.dk in Denmark, Gasum Oy in Finland, Swedegas in Sweden, Elering in Estonia, AS Conexus Baltic Grid in Latvia, AB Amber Grid in Lithuania and GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. in Poland. En- erginet.dk and Elering own both electricity and gas grids in the respective countries. The majority of TSOs in the BEMIP region operate as ownership-unbundled TSOs, except Gasum Oy. On 2 January 2017, a new company (JSC Conexus Baltic Grid) commenced operations as a Latvian TSO, and this was established through the unbundling from AS Latvijas Gaze. JSC Conexus Baltic Grid includes the transmis- sion and storage of natural gas. The energy law in Latvia stipulates that the TSO must be unbounded from the DSO and the DSO from sales by 31 December 2017. The energy law of Latvia also states that, as of 3 April 2017, the natural gas market of Latvia must be fully opened. This will allow other entities to trade and sell natural gas. Households will have the opportunity to choose to either stay as a related user or continue to purchase natural gas for regulated tariffs. Gasum Oy is a vertically integrated company acting as a wholesaler of gas in addition to its TSO activities. The unbundling of Gasum Oy will be performed when the right to derogate from it expires. At the same time, GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. is an unbundled operator of the transmission system in Poland and additionally performs the function of an independent system operator on the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe pipeline. Over 50 distribution companies operate in the BEMIP region. In Poland, the leading DSO is Polska Spółka Gazownictwa sp. z o.o., in Estonia – AS Gaa-sivõrgud and in Lithuania – AB Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius. In Denmark, the distribution system network is divided into six distribution areas covered by four distribution companies: HMN Naturgas, Nature Energy Distribution, Gasforsyningen Aalborg and Danish Gas Distribution (owned Energinet.dk). In Sweden, five distribution areas are owned and operated by E.ON Gas Sverige, Göteborgs Energi Gasnät, Kraftringen nät, Varberg Energi and Öresundskraft. The structure of supply chain of natural gas and the number of players in it differs by countries. In 2016, approximately 20 supply companies and 25 transport shippers operated in Denmark; licenses to import natural gas were held by three companies in Estonia and by nearly 10 companies in Lithuania. In Poland there were over 100 shippers, with the oil and gas company PGNiG being the major player engaged in import and production of natural gas; nine suppliers of natural gas operated in Sweden’s gas market. Since 2014, the BEMIP’s region’s access to liquefied natural gas (LNG) market has been enhanced. Lithuania, Poland and Finland commissioned new LNG terminals: in December 2014, a terminal was launched in Lithuania (by AB Klaipėdos Nafta); in June 2016, a terminal was launched in Poland (by Polskie LNG S.A., a subsidi- ary of GAZ-SYSTEM S.A.), and in September 2016, Pori LNG import terminal was put into operation in Finland (by Skangas Ltd.). Direct access to regasification capacities in the region will further improve in the upcoming years as GAZ-SYSTEM made an investment decision in April 2017 to upgrade the terminal in Świnoujście from the existing 5bcm/y to 7.5bcm/y.

BEMIP Gas Regional Investment Plan 2017 | 11