Gassled Owners Lose 2nd Tariff Court Case

Four shareholders in Gassled, owner of Norway's 8,300km subsea gas transportation system, have lost an appeal court case against the government.

The case relates to a 2013 decision by Oslo to reduce transportation tariffs, following a public consultation paper, effectively reducing earnings for all Gassled shareholders but making the cost of delivering gas cheaper for shippers.

Njord Gas Infrastructure said June 30 that it, Solveig Gas Norway, Silex Gas Norway and Infragas Norge had lost the ruling and that the court (Borgarting appeal court) had ruled in favour of the Norwegian government.  The ruling is available in Norwegian here. 

The four companies collectively own 43.9% equity in Gassled. However Norwegian state holding Petoro with its 45.793% stake and state-run Statoil with 5% jointly exercise majority control over Gassled, whose assets are operated by state-owned Gassco.

The petroleum and energy ministry expressed satisfaction at the appeal court verdict. "This means that the Norwegian State has been acquitted from the claims related to the change in the tariff regulations regarding the Norwegian upstream gas transportation system, both in the District Court and the Court of Appeal, said ministry spokesperson Ella Bye Morland. 

In September 2015, the Oslo District Court rejected claims made by the same four companies over tariffs for Gassled.

Njord said a certified translation into English of the ruling would be published on its website on/about 5 July. It said that it and three other plaintiffs has until September 16 to decide whether or not to appeal this decision, and that Njord would make an announcement when this decision had been made.

The four, which are owned by leading investment and pension funds including Germany's Allianz, together invested more than $10bn for their stakes in Gassled earlier this decade, when oil companies were divesting from Norway's midstream, hoping that it would represent a stable return.

The largest of the four, Solveig Gas with a 24.756% Gassled stake, is 30%-owned by Allianz, 30% by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and 40% by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Njord is 82%-owned by Swiss bank UBS. Silex which owns 6.102% of Gassled is wholly-owned by Allianz. 

Silex CEO Kurt Georgsen told NGW: "We have just received the judgment, and we note that the court has not concluded in our favour. We note that the court has emphasised that the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy did not establish a transparent system for regulating Gassled tariffs. However, the court concluded that there was a legal basis for the tariff reduction, and that there was no basis for a claim for damages. The four plaintiffs will now evaluate the details of the judgment, and assess the options available to them before the expiration of the appeal periods. We have no further comment at this point". 

Gassled-owned, Gassco-managed infrastructure (Map credit: Gassco)  

Gassled owners  

Mark Smedley