“Building an integrated natural gas market in the Central and Eastern Europe region is one of the main objectives of the European energy policy and determines the development of gas transmission systems in the member states” said Artur Zawartko, Vice President of Gaz-System, during the “Polish Gas Hub” panel during the European Economic Congress in Katowice on 14 May 2019.
According to Mr Zawartko, the development of the national transmission system, including two-way interconnectors, contributes to building the integrated and competitive gas market in the region: “Taking advantage of the geographical location of Poland, our system could play a transit role.” He also emphasized that in order to establish the EU’s internal natural gas market we, first of all, need changes in directions and sources of supply.
The Vice President indicated that the natural partners for Gaz-System in the integration process were transmission system operators from the Central and Eastern countries and the Baltic Sea region: “The infrastructure projects implemented and planned by us in the gas sector, such as the Baltic Pipe project, extension of the LNG terminal in Świnoujście, FSRU in the Gdańsk Bay or cross-border connections with our neighbors, mean that Poland meets all requirements for security of supply and resistance to gas crises.
”He emphasized that Poland had market tools to enable the establishment of the regional gas distribution center, and “One of them is the GSA platform established by Gaz-System in 2014, used to reserve capacity in interconnector points at the borders of neighboring countries.” This is an IT tool enabling transmission system operators to offer capacity via auctions pursuant to EU law. He added that “This solution is already used by Gaz-System or transmission system operators in the Czech Republic. This is a ready solution which may also be used by other operators, including those from the Central and Eastern Europe region.”
The “Polish Gas Hub” panel was also attended by i.a. Tomasz Dąbrowski, Deputy Minister of Energy and Paweł Jakubowski, President of Polskie LNG.
The “Global LNG Market” panel was attended by Sławomir Sieradzki, Gas Market Development Division Director in Gaz-System, who discussed a strategic prospect of the LNG market development in Poland, related to the extension of the LNG terminal in Świnoujście and planned construction of the floating terminal. “Projects related to LNG are the response to growing demand for gas in Poland and guarantee additional supplies in this part of Europe, independent from one dominating supplier of this raw material.”
The panel also included Piotr Naimski – Polish Government Plenipotentiary for Strategic Energy Infrastructure, Žygimantas Vaičiūnas – Minister of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania, Dominique Ristori – Director – General for Energy in the European Commission, and Paweł Jakubowski – President of Polskie LNG.
Gaz-System