Trading Region Upgrade service continues to receive positive market response
Vienna / Prague, 24 August 2018: The Trading Region Upgrade (TRU) service, connecting the Austrian and the Czech gas markets, continues to receive positive response from the market. In the quarterly capacity auction in August, almost all the offered TRU capacity from the Czech Republic to Austria (22,000 kWh/h) in the summer quarters Q2/2019 and Q3/2019 was sold. A decision on how to offer the remaining TRU quantity will be taken soon. The main aim of the TRU service is to simplify transaction procedures and reduce transaction costs.
After the successful annual auction in July, the new specially designed service was offered as a quarterly product by the Austrian and the Czech Gas Transmission System Operators Gas Connect Austria and NET4GAS through auctions in the period 6 – 20 August 2018. For the second time, their customers had the opportunity to bid for their gas to be shipped from Austria to the Czech Republic and vice versa with a single contract. With this, the two companies are also implementing in practice the European Union’s target to bring markets together in an easy and cost-efficient way.
Both Transmission System Operators offer the TRU service individually. Cross-border transactions from Austria to the Czech gas market are provided by Gas Connect Austria, transactions from the Czech Republic to the Austrian gas market by NET4GAS.
The TRU service is offered within a one-year pilot phase after which the product will be evaluated.
For further details, please contact the Transmission System Operators directly or visit their websites: www.net4gas.cz and www.gasconnect.at
Gas Connect Austria GmbH
Based in Vienna, Gas Connect Austria is a natural gas transmission system and distribution system operator. The company has 280 employees working at a total of six locations in Vienna, Lower Austria and Upper Austria. Gas Connect Austria operates a modern and powerful high-pressure natural gas network centred on the Baumgarten hub, with connections to Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia, as well as to storage and production facilities. The pipeline system is 900 kilometres long and comprises five compressor stations, 40 metering and transfer stations and more than 100 transfer metering points. The company’s core business is marketing gas transportation capacity at cross-border interconnection points, and for domestic natural gas supply in Austria. It plays a key role in the Central European gas network, with marketed entry/exit capacity of 150 billion cubic metres a year. As a logistics services provider with a strong customer focus, the company is constantly developing its products and services in line with market requirements. Gas Connect Austria is a subsidiary of the OMV Group, which holds a 51% stake, with the remaining 49% split between Allianz Capital Partners and SNAM at a ratio of 60:40. Gas Connect Austria is a shareholder in AGGM, AGCS, TAG GmbH and PRISMA, and a member of ENTSOG and GIE.
Contact: publicrelations@gasconnect.at, Tel.-No. 0043-1-27500-88052
NET4GAS, s.r.o.
NET4GAS holds an exclusive gas Transmission System Operator (TSO) licence in the Czech Republic, providing efficient, safe and reliable gas transmission services for its customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The company secures the international transit of natural gas across the Czech Republic, domestic transmission to partners in the Czech Republic and associated commercial and technical services. NET4GAS transports around 45 billion m3 of natural gas per year and operates more than 3,800 km of pipelines, three border transfer stations, four compressor stations, and nearly a hundred transfer stations at the interface with domestic gas distribution. The company is a member of the Czech Gas Association, the international organisations ENTSOG, GIE, EASEE-gas, and the IGU and Marcogaz working groups. NET4GAS has more than 500 employees.
Contact: zuzana.kucerova@net4gas.cz, Tel.-No. 00420 739 537 273