The European Commission wants to see details of all long-term EU commercial gas supply contracts with non-EU suppliers, including volumes and delivery points, according to an unofficial draft of the new EU gas supply security regulation seen by Platts Tuesday.
The regulation, expected to be proposed on February 10, would require companies to give their national authorities details of all contracts with non-EU suppliers lasting more than a year, as well as any subsequent changes.
These details include the contract duration, contracted volumes, including maximum daily volumes in the event on an emergency, contracted delivery points, minimum daily, monthly and yearly gas volumes, and conditions for suspending gas deliveries.
The national authorities would have to pass this data on to the EC by the end of September each year.
Companies would also, after the regulation enters into force, have to notify both their national authority and the EC immediately of any new contracts that individually or with other contracts provide more than 40% of annual national demand in an EU country.
They would also have to notify immediately any changes to such contracts, except those only related to prices.
The rules would also allow national authorities or the EC to ask for details of any gas supply contract that they deemed may impact security in any part of the EU.
The contract details are to help the national authorities prepare the regional gas security risk assessments, preventative action plans and emergency response plans required by the draft rules, and to help the EC review the effectiveness of such plans.
The draft rules state that both the national authorities and EC shall keep any commercially sensitive information confidential.
CLOSE TO 300 CONTRACTS AFFECTED
The EC estimated in 2014 that there were close to 300 contracts for longer than a year with non-EU suppliers in force in the EU, with durations lasting from one to more than 30 years.
Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Portugal and Slovenia had less than five gas supply contracts with non-EU suppliers, according to data reported to the EC under the current 2010 EU gas supply security regulation.
In contrast, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain had more than 30 such contracts each, the EC said.
Russia in particular would be caught by the immediate notification requirement, as it supplies more than 40% of national gas demand in 13 of the 28 EU countries, according to the EC's 2014 European Energy Security Strategy.
The EC is expected to propose the new EU gas supply security regulation on February 10, along with an EU LNG and gas storage strategy, new EU rules on intergovernmental energy agreements and an EU heating and cooling strategy.
Drafts of all four have been leaked to and published by Brussels-based EU blogger Alice Stollmeyer.
The draft regulation has to be debated and agreed by both the European Parliament and the EU Council, representing the EU's 28 national governments, before it can become law. This process usually takes about two years.
The regulation would apply directly in all EU countries once approved and in force.
