Conexus has not yet begun the reservation of 20/21 annual storage capacity

Despite the fact that last year the reservation of capacity of the Inčukalns Underground Gas Storage Facility (Inčukalns UGS) was started on January 15 and also today JSC Conexus Baltic Grid (hereinafter Conexus) received requests from several system users for capacity reservation for the next storage season, Conexus has not yet begun reserving the Inčukalns UGS capacity for the season of 2020/2021.

In order to confirm storage capacity reservation for the system users for the year 2020/2021 storage cycle, regulation, that defines the range of storage products, how they are sold, and the price of the products, approved by the Public Utilities Commission (hereinafter – the Regulator) is required. Conexus provided the Regulator with the information required for approval of the above mentioned decision and the regulatory framework for 2020/2021 annual storage cycle on December 2, 2019.

Zane Kotāne, Chairperson of the Board of JSC Conexus Baltic Grid: “Given the strong interest of system users in reserving storage in the previous storage cycle, Conexus made extensive proposals to the Regulator to improve the regulatory environment. The proposals include both new products in the storage cycle and the introduction of an auction mechanism for individual products, as well as tariff proposals for 2020/2021 annual storage cycle. While all the documents submitted for decision are under consideration, we have asked the Regulator to develop a temporary regulation so that system users can forecast their business processes. We appreciate the interest of the natural gas market participants in Inčukalns Underground Gas Storage services and will inform the market about the new reservation season news as soon as possible.”