News

The VIIth Conference on the “Liberalisation of the Gas Market and Energy Security” will be held on 12th December 2016 at the Westin Hotel in Warsaw. The conference will be centered around security issues and the development of the Polish gas market, as well as the liberalization of the market, gas exchange and the OTC platform and the main trends in the European and global markets.

One of the conference lectures will be given by W&W’s Adam Wawrzynowicz and will address the regulatory and legal conditions for detariffication on the gas market.

The full program of the Conference is available on the organizer’s website: http://www.adventure.pl/gaz_2016_program.php

W&W’s Adam Wawrzynowicz’s article, “Proposed Detariffication on the Gas Market”, published in the latest edition of the magazine of the Chamber of Natural Gas Industry ” Przegląd gazowniczy ” No. 2/2016, pp. 38 – 40, discusses and evaluates the draft amendment to the “Energy Law” introducing detariffication on the gas market and releasing energy companies from the obligation to submit tariffs for approval by the President of the Energy Regulatory Office. The bill is a response by the Polish government to the ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU of 10 September 2015. (Case C-36/14, Commission v Poland). According to the ruling, with the unlimited in time, statutory obligation by a state authority to approve tariffs for trade in natural gas for all customers, the Republic of Poland is in breach of European Union law.

You are welcome to read the article “Proposed Detariffication on the Gas Market” in the Publications section of our website.

Poland is still overly dependent on gas supplies from the east and at risk of disruption of supply due to the geopolitical situation. Of key importance for Polish energy security therefore is the Swinoujscie LNG terminal providing access to the global LNG market and offering opportunities for the diversification of gas supply sources. The full potential of the terminal building as an instrument of Polish energy security depends upon the demand for the services of the terminal, which will be determined by, among others, the attractiveness of the price of deliveries through the terminal compared to deliveries by other entry points to the NTS.

An article by W&W’s Adam Wawrzynowicz and Tomasz Brzezinski entitled, “Legal aspects of the implementation of support mechanisms for the operation of the Swinoujscie LNG terminal ” which appears in the June issue of the monthly magazine ” Nafta-Gaz ” (No. 6/2016), published by the Publishing House of the Institute of Oil and Gas – The National Research Institute, presents the legal framework for the potential implementation of mechanisms to increase the competitiveness and availability of the LNG terminal to market participants.

We welcome you to read the article ” Legal aspects of the implementation of support mechanisms for the operation of the Swinoujscie LNG terminal”.

We invite you to be a participant in the Conference, “LNG in Poland and Europe in 2016. The new model for the gas market,” which will be held on 20th June, 2016 at the Westin Hotel (al. John Paul II 21), Warsaw.

The conference is dedicated to the most important issues connected with the LNG market in Poland, the Baltic region and Central Europe. The main topics of the conference will be centered on: the importance of the opening of the LNG terminal for the energy security of Polish and for gas market competition, the future of LNG in the region, issues of logistical LNG infrastructure and the development of domestic and cross-border transmission networks. The conference program, together with the topics of the specific speeches can be found in the conference brochure (available for download on the website: http://adventure.pl/lng_2016_folder.php)

The speakers giving presentations at the Conference include, inter alia, Piotr Naimski (Government Plenipotentiary for Strategic Energy Infrastructure), Maciej Wozniak (Vice-President of the Management Board of PGNiG SA), Tomasz Stepien (CEO, GAZ-SYSTEM SA), as well as representatives of many other power companies and gas market experts. The sponsoring partners of the event are PGNiG SA and the Gas Transmission Operator, GAZ-SYSTEM SA.

W&W’s Adam Wawrzynowicz is to give a lectures during the Conference on the legal framework for potential mechanisms of operational support for diversification projects, including LNG terminals.

The participation form is available on the website of the organizer, Adventure Consulting at: http://adventure.pl/lng_2016_formularz.php

The XIX edition of the GAZTERM Conference will be held in Międzyzdroje from 16-18 May 2016 and the content partner, the Lower Silesia Institute for Energy Studies (Dise), is bringing together a group of experts to look at issues of energy security, the liberalization of the gas market, the financial management of energy companies and issues of efficiency for infrastructure projects in the energy sector. The main sponsor of the Conference is PGNiG S. A.

Primarily, the topics presented during the Conference will focus on issues related to the security and development of the Polish gas market as presented by representatives of major energy companies and leading experts in the gas and electricity market. The Conference program and list of speakers is available on the organizer’s website: http://gazterm.nazwa.pl/index.php/program.html

W&W’s Adam Wawrzynowicz and Tomasz Brzezinski will present a lecture on the second day of the Conference lecture entitled: “The legal framework for potential mechanisms of operational support for diversification projects”. They will discuss the applicable regulations and give examples of solutions already applied in the European Union which could potentially be deployed in Poland as mechanisms of operational support for projects able to diversify the source of gas supply, and which are designed to evenly spread the costs of diversification to all market participants and maximize the potential of new infrastructure.

We warmly welcome you to participate in the Conference!

April 27, 2016  saw the Gala Final of the third national ‘Energy Law’ competition and the selection of the winning entrant. All the finalists received awards sponsored by Wawrzynowicz & Partners Law Firm.

W&W’s Adam Wawrzynowicz was a member of the Organising Committee of the competition and was proud to be a member of the judging panel for the Final. This was W&W’s third consecutive year as a supporting partner of the event.

The competition came under the patronage, inter alia, of the President of the Energy Regulatory Office, the National Chamber of Commerce and the Regional Chamber of Legal Advisers. The event was organized by members of the European Law Students Association (ELSA) Poznan and the Academic Society of Energy Law at the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznan.

The final results of the competition are as follows:

The “GAS FOR POLISH 2016” conference, a regular event that is now in its 10th year, focuses on the most important issues relating to the gas market in Poland and Central Europe.

This year’s lectures were delivered by, inter alia:

• Government representative, Energy Infrastructure Minister, Piotr Naimski;
• Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for economic relations with the EU, Director Adam Janczak;
• Vice President of the Management Board of PGNiG SA, Mr. Janusz Kowalski;
• Director of Development, OGP Gaz-System SA, Mr. Paul Jakubowski;
• Director Piotr Dworak of EuroPolGaz S.A.;
• Legal Counsel Adam Wawrzynowicz, Managing Senior Partner at Wawrzynowicz & Partners law firm.

Government representative, Energy Infrastructure Minister, Piotr Naimski gave the opening speech, where he presented the main assumptions in the strategy of the new government in the strengthening of energy security and in the diversification of new investments. He also discussed the importance of the development of a strategic transmission infrastructure for Polish energy security.

Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for economic relations with the EU, Director Adam Janczak presented the issues for Polish energy relations with the EU, in particular the Polish position on the EU draft energy security roadmap and EU Energy and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.

W&W’s Adam Wawrzynowicz gave a lecture on the conditions for the regulatory and legal security of gas supply, entitled: “The development of the gas market and energy security demands systemic change.”

The main sponsoring partner of the conference was PGNiG SA.

The event programme and the list of speakers is available on the website of the organizer – http://www.adventure.pl/gdp_2016_program.php

The “GAS FOR POLAND, 2016” conference was organized by Adventure Consulting and took place on  March 21, 2016 at the Sofitel Victoria Hotel in Warsaw.

The event is open to anyone interested in energy law, including, in particular, the regulations on renewable energy sources. The conference will consist of three thematic discussion panels:

• The new regulations of Polish law on renewable energy which will come into force on July 1, 2016;
• A presentation of the experience of Germany in its implementation of policy on renewable energy sources,
• EU energy policy objectives.

The conference will be held in Poznan on April 26, 2016 (Tuesday) from 9.00 to 17.00. Presentations will be in Polish and German with simultaneous translation.

The conference will be attended by legal practitioners, representatives of the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Environment and the Energy Regulatory Office, specialists in the topic of renewable energy sources in the scientific community, as well as legal scholars from Germany who will be outlining and commenting on the provisions of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz) .

W&W is a supporting sponsor of the conference and we are happy to announce that W&W partner Wojciech Bigaj will be delivering one of the conference presentations.

Participation in the conference is free of charge and information on signing up can be found on the website of the European Law Students Association (ELSA) Poznan – http://prawozenergia.elsa.org.pl/zapisy/

Welcome!

The Organising Committee of the national “Energy Law” competition has chosen the authors of the five best essays submitted for the competition. This list of finalists was announced on March 8, 2016 and can be seen at the bottom of this page.

The competition is devoted in the main to energy, energy law and energy policy and those interested in participating in the contest had to write an essay on one of the topics stipulated by the Organising Committee . The five entrants whose essays were judged by the Organising Committee to be the best would be those moving forward to the second stage of the competition. The seven choices of topics for discussion were:

1. Advantages and disadvantages of the adopted legal solutions relating to the auctions for electricity generation from renewable sources;
2. The so-called “market for power” as an element of the market for energy;
3. The necessary reform of the Polish mining industry from the perspective of the power sector;
4. New legal requirements on industrial emissions in relation to energy facilities;
5. The supervision of the wholesale trade in energy products (“REMIT”), including  electricity and gas in light of current legislation;
6. Energy planning as an instrument to ensure the implementation of the objectives set out Article. 1 paragraph. 2 of the Energy Law – the participants and the form in which the activities are carried out;
7. Sanctioning entities performing activities covered by the Energy Law as a means of ensuring effectiveness.

The Gala Final of the competition will be held in Poznan on April 27, 2016 at the Collegium Novum Iuridicum, 53 al. Niepodległości. W&W are proud to be a supporting partner of the event and the sponsor of the competition  prize, and senior partner Adam Wawrzynowicz is a member of the Organising Committee and will be judging the participants during the Final.

We encourage and invite you to participate in the Gala Final as a member of the audience!

Further information on the competition and the accompanying Conference can be found on the website of the organiser – ELSA Poznan.

Between the 13-15 January 2016, the town of Muszyna was host to the scientific and technical conference – FORGAZ 2016, as organized by the Institute of Oil and Gas (National Research Institute) to present and discuss the latest techniques and technologies for gas industry measuring, testing and operation. Wawrzynowicz & Partners was represented at the conference by Adam Wawrzynowicz and Tomasz Brzezinski.

The event is under the honorary patronage of Polskiego Górnictwa Naftowego i Gazownictwa S.A (Polish Oil and Gas Company), Izby Gospodarczej Gazownictwa (the Chamber of Commerce for the Gas Industry) and the Chairman of the Board of Polskiej Spółki Gazownictwa Sp. z o.o (the Polish Gas Company).

The conference covered issues related to the measurement of the quantity and quality of gas and the construction and operation of gas pipelines. As part of several panel discussions, lectures were given by representatives of the leading gas companies – PGNiG SA, PSG Sp. Z oo, GAZ-SYSTEM SA, EuRoPol GAZ SA, and experts from the scientific community, including the Oil and Gas Institute – National Research Institute and the University of Science and Technology in Krakow.

This year’s conference was the successive “FORGAZ” attended by lawyers from the offices of W&W.

The Institute of Oil and Gas conference materials have been published in the form of a scientific publication – “FORGAZ 2016 – Techniques and technologies for gas industry measuring, testing and operation”, which includes a lecture by Adam Wawrzynowicz and Tomasz Brzezinski entitled “The legal aspects of the implementation of support mechanisms for the operation of the Swinoujscie LNG terminal”(pp. 303 – 316 ).