Gassco to name some Norwegian fields and publish lowered natural gas output threshold on REMIT page

The names of some operated fields in Norway will be published on Gassco’s website in Q4 2014 alongside changes to the threshold at which volume restrictions are reported, a spokeswoman from the offshore operator told ICIS.

The changes aim to increase data transparency to the market but there are no immediate plans to introduce a system that alerts users of new field or processing plant restrictions or archive unplanned maintenance, which disappear once the activity ends. Traders previously polled by ICIS had signalled most concern about these two points.

Although there are no immediate plans to introduce an archive system for unplanned outages once they have expired, Gassco CEO Brian Bjordal said the company would look into it.

Traders polled by ICIS earlier in the year made no secret of their frustration with the website. Some claimed the list of maintenance revisions can be confusing, while others said there was little clarity over which fields are due to go off line because they are unnamed.

But Gassco said plans were underway to name some fields and to lower the threshold at which volume restrictions are reported. The latest upgrade is earmarked for implementation in October or November and is being developed in cooperation with grid users, the Gassco spokeswoman said. No further details on which fields would be named or the threshold for volumes were available before the article went to press.

Changes implemented in October 2013 meant that traders could assess the daily volume impact maintenance had on Norwegian flows to Europe more easily and monitor historical revisions on affected fields and processing plants.

The amendments included data on field productivity, and reduced volume impact of planned maintenance at fields. In addition, unplanned maintenance now includes the impact of gas delivery curtailments on an intra-day and day-ahead basis. Kirsty Ayakwah