The change of Conexus shareholders puts an end to speculation about the functional independence of the system operator

Although before the change of shareholders, the natural gas transmission and storage system operator JSC “Conexus Baltic Grid” (Conexus) worked in accordance with the independence requirements of the Energy Law, Jānis Eisaks, the Chairman of the Board of Conexus, hopes that State's control over the infrastructure of Latvian natural gas transmission and storage system will finally take the discussion on the functional independence of the operator from agenda.

J. Eisaks informs: This week JSC “Augstsprieguma tīkls” concluded a transaction with PAS "Gazprom" on the purchase of shares in Conexus, which clarified the issue of certification of the system operator. I believe that there is currently no legal obstacle that would prevent comprehensive certification of Conexus according to the requirements of the Energy Law, so we expect soon decisions by the Public Utilities Commission (Regulator) on the revision of the certification conditions and we hope that the evaluation of the new shareholders of the company will not be delayed.

At the same time it must be outlined, that the limitation of shareholders' ownership has never been the competence of the Board of Conexus, so the company has done everything to work in accordance with the independence requirements prescribed in Article 111 of the Energy Law, not permitting any influence of shareholders in the company that doesn't comply with the requirements of this Article. "Gazprom" as former shareholders had not been involved in the management of the company neither practically nor legally.

The alignment of certification issue will clearly contribute to the effective operation of the company, both nationally and internationally. Anyway, we continue focusing on one of the most important objectives: making the company the leader of energy infrastructure in the Baltic and Scandinavian regions, ensuring security and continuity of natural gas supplies."