Conexus continues re-concluding contracts with sellers regarding the operation in Latvia-Estonia balancing zone

All existing users of Latvian natural gas transmission system have expressed their interest about the operation in the unified natural gas market which starts its operation from 1 January 2020. The unified natural gas transmission and storage system operator JSC “Conexus Baltic Grid” (Conexus) continues re-concluding contracts with sellers so that the usage of the unified market is possible from the moment of opening.

Sellers who operate currently in Latvian market must conclude a new set of contracts with the operator regarding the usage of transmission system and balancing in the unified balancing zone to 1 January which is valid both in Estonia and Latvia. Since all active system users have expressed their interest to conclude the new contracts and most of them have taken the first required steps to conclude them, Conexus forecasts that those clients who are interested in the transmission system services in the unified balancing zone conclude timely the new contracts till the end of the year.

The unified natural gas market, which is formed by Latvia, Estonia and Finland as of 1 January 2020, has one natural gas transmission entry-exit tariff zone and two balancing zones. Hereafter it’s enough for the natural gas sellers to have one set of contracts regarding the system usage in the unified balancing zone to use the transmission system of the unified Latvia-Estonia balancing zone which must be concluded with system operator “Conexus” in Latvia or with “Elering” in Estonia. To use the transmission system of Finland, relevant contracts must be concluded with the transmission system operator of Finland. Consequently, the contracts currently effective between the local operator and seller will not be active after 1 January and their operation in the market will be suspended as of 01.01.2020 gas day.

To be able to work in the unified Latvia-Estonia balancing zone after 1 January 2020, a natural gas seller must conclude contracts as per the unified transmission system usage and balancing rules.