The initiative was prompted by the European Commission’s decision to instigate infringement proceedings against the Irish and UK governments over breaches of the bloc’s gas market arrangements under the so-called third package.
The infringement process dates back to 2009. The areas of non-compliance centre on the fact that the Irish transmission system operators (TSOs) are not currently providing firm and interruptible third-party access services.
The other main bone of contention for Brussels is the failure of the NI TSOs to offer maximum capacity on the Scotland to Northern Ireland pipeline (SNIP) or on the South-North pipelines (SNP) because they do not provide so-called interruptible reverse flow.
Introducing the new products and bringing in the rule changes are scheduled to take until July. The proposals include naming Gormanston as the designated entry point to the NI network for the purposes of relevant industry codes.
The watchdog stated: “The approach has been to introduce products which are cost-effective and can be implemented and offered to shippers quickly.”
This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 16 March 2012.
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