German Opal Ready for New Capacity Auctions August 1

Auctions for new partly regulated transport capacity in the 36bn m³/yr overland German gas pipeline Opal will start August 1, the operator said July 31.

"After the General Court of the European Union and the Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court had previously already lifted the temporary suspension of the settlement agreement on the allocation of OPAL capacities, the German network regulator (BNetzA) has now also followed suit. This allows Opal Gastransport to market the previously mostly unused Opal capacities in accordance with the settlement agreement concluded on November 28, 2016 [sic] with immediate effect," said Opal.

The European Commission approved the settlement agreement between BNetzA and Gazprom October 28.

"The first auctions for daily capacities for transport on Wednesday 2 August 2017, in line with the General Terms and Conditions of the PRISMA Capacity Platform, will take place tomorrow, Tuesday 1 August 2017, on the basis of the PRISMA auction calendar. Bundled and unbundled fixed capacities will be offered as freely allocable capacity (fac) and dynamically allocable capacity (dac)," said Opal.

Russian Gazprom is the only company with the gas to put into the line, which starts at the German coast where Nord Stream 1 finishes, and ends on the border with the Czech Republic. It declined to comment to NGW on the positive decision of the General Court. However company sources expect Gazprom will now bid for capacity.

Opal is 100% owned by companies that in turn are owned by WIGA, a joint venture of Gazprom and BASF subsidiary Wintershall. The Opal pipeline connects the landfall point of the Nord Stream pipeline on the Baltic coast to the German-Czech border.

William Powell