Fluxswiss to auction Transitgas bi-directional natural gas transport capacity
Swiss TSO Fluxswiss has announced the launch of a new virtual bi-directional capacity product between Italy and France or Germany, which will be auctioned from 14 March.
Fluxswiss is offering interruptible capacity beginning 1 April, in both directions between Passo Gries, on the Swiss-Italian border, and Oltingue or Wallbach on the French and German borders respectively. The service is offered on a ship-or-pay basis.
Until now, Fluxswiss had only offered capacity along this route from south to north. The new product is a separate development to the project to create physical reverse capacity between Italy and Belgium by 2015, in which Fluxswiss is co-operating with other TSOs.
The total capacity on offer corresponds to 80,000 cubic metres (cbm)/hour divided into 16 lots, with 15,000cbm each offered on a once-monthly and three-monthly basis, and 50,000cbm offered on a six-monthly basis.
Allocation will work in the same way as for previous auctions, with multiple rounds of bidding if any capacity remains unsold after the first round.
In the space of three months, the PSV has gone from being the most expensive Day-ahead contract in Europe, to being the second cheapest. During February, the contract averaged €25.965/MWh, according to ICIS data. This is €0.32/MWh above the lowest hub - the Austrian VTP - but represents a €0.40/MWh discount to the Dutch TTF hub.
In this context, capacity on Transitgas along the traditional north-south route has held little appeal of late, according to market participants.
Several counterparties said that they were still studying the details of the product, but that the product was interesting in principle.
One noted that Fluxswiss had reacted quickly to the changing market conditions, while another said that the fact that short-term capacity was being offered was attractive. Emma Slawinski
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