New process to ease natural gas transport in northwest Europe

From 2018 a new sales process will be launched to ease natural gas transport across five countries in northwest Europe.

IUK, operator of the bi-directional Interconnector pipeline linking Britain and Belgium, and grid manager Fluxys Belgium have partnered to develop the service.

Existing long-term capacity agreements on the Interconnector expire at the end of September 2018. Shippers will have the opportunity to purchase annual capacity on the pipeline for a maximum of 12 years, with priority given to those purchasing for the longest duration.

The IUK-Fluxys Belgium partnership is designed to make it easier to bundle capacity. This is in preparation for the EU capacity allocation mechanism network code that comes into force on 1 November 2015 – a set of rules that aim to make it easier to book capacity for crossborder trade.

Shippers with matching quantities and durations on either side of the Interconnector will have the opportunity to voluntarily bundle volumes.

Those with some long-term capacity in one or more transportation system can purchase corresponding quantities from IUK and Fluxys Belgium.

It is also expected that new bundled products will be launched for gas transportation between any of the five countries. Shippers can book transport capacity for similar time periods from grid operators in Germany, the Netherlands and France, making it easier to transit countries across mainland Europe.

Workshops will be held on 3 and 5 February in London and Brussels to provide further information and receive feedback from shippers. Ben Samuel