Poland Seeks to Block German TPA Exemption for NS2
German networks regulator Bundesnetzagentur (BNA) has allowed state-owned Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) and its German subsidiary PGNiG Supply & Trading to provide input into Gazprom's Nord Stream 2's application for a derogation from the European Union’s Third Energy Package requirements. As the pipeline makes landfall in Germany, that country's regulator is authorised to decide the conditions under which it operates.
The line is not yet complete: only a short section in Danish waters needs to be laid in order for the 55bn m³/yr twin pipeline to carry gas from Russia to Germany. But the line was planned to be operational by late last year.
PGNiG applied to BNA February 19 as it does not want the pipeline to deliver gas from Russia to Germany without having to apply third-party access and unbundling rules or transparent market tariffs, in line with European Union rules.
NS2 applied to Bundesnetzagentur for exemption from these rules in January 2020 but PGNiG says the latest amendment to the Gas Directive means that derogations from EU law are available only for pipelines completed before the amendment’s entry into force, which was in May last year. The German section however was laid before that date and is protected under German law.
PGNiG said that it has consistently pointed to "the adverse implications of Nord Stream 2 for the security of supply and competition in the gas market in central and eastern Europe. Including us in the procedure will help us to defend the interests of the PGNiG Group and gas consumers in the course of the derogation procedure. Nord Stream 2 must not be given preferential treatment,” commented PGNiG CEO Jerzy Kwiecinski.