Press articles and reports

Adam Wawrzynowicz and Marcel Krzanowski are the co-authors of an article for the December issue of ‘Przegląd Gazniczy’ titled ” The involvement of the Chamber of Commerce for the Gas Industry in the development of the hydrogen and biogas sector”.

The authors discuss activities for the development of the biogas and biomethane sectors as well as the process for building strategy and drafting legislative change.

A “Sectoral Agreement for the Development of the Hydrogen Economy in Poland” was concluded In October 2021 by representatives of the government administration, the scientific community and the business. This was followed in November by the signing of a “Sectoral Agreement for the Development of the Biogas and Biomethane Sectors”. Both processes actively involved experts and representatives of member companies of the Chamber of Commerce for the Gas Industry who have been working in the vast majority of the task teams established at the Ministry of Climate and Environment over the last dozen or so months.

The June issue of Przegląd Gazniczy (Gas Review) published an article by Adam Wawrzynowicz and Tomasz Brzeziński titled, ‘The prospects for natural gas as a transformative fuel in the context of the EU Taxonomy’.

One of the assumptions of the European Green Deal adopted in 2019 is to reduce the emissions of the gas sector, which is to take place, inter alia, by increasing aid for development work in the field of low-emitting gases. The criteria for investors and financial institutions to assess whether specific investments applying for financing are environmentally sustainable are indicated in the so-called “EU taxonomy”, namely Regulation (EU) 2020/852 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment.

The article deals with the prospects for the development of natural gas in the context of the aforementioned regulation and the further EU actions announced in connection with the regulation.

An article by Adam Wawrzynowicz and Tomasz Brzeziński devoted to the regulations on agricultural biogas and biomethane appeared in a special April issue of Przegląd Gazniczy (Gas Review).

The authors explain the issues connected with the relevant regulations, in particular in the context of the potential introduction of agricultural biogas and biomethane to gas networks, as well as their use in the transport sector.

The article refers not only to the possibility of exploiting these fuels, but also discusses the existing legal barriers that stand in the way of the use of agricultural biogas and biomethane for the purposes of Poland’s implementation of renewable energy objectives.

MIFID II and the amendment to the Act on Trading in Financial Instruments implementing this directive will significantly strengthen the impact of financial market regulation on the functioning of the gas market, causing, among others, a change in the structure and principles of gas exchange. The main objectives of MIFID II are to create an integrated financial market, to provide better protection for investors, to increase the level of trust and to ensure that financial supervisory authorities have the powers to effectively perform their responsibilities.

The directive has a serious impact on the continued functioning of the gas market by significantly extending the scope of contracts entered into on the gas market that may be classified as financial instruments and by introducing a new trading system – an organized trading facility (OTF).

An article by W&W’s Tomasz Brzeziński and Adam Wawrzynowicz titled, “The Impact of the MIFID II Regulation Package on the Functioning of the Gas Market”, as published in Przegląd Gazociągi nr 2 (58), indicates which contracts on the gas market can be classified as financial instruments and discusses changes in the gas exchange operation rules in connection with the implementation of MIFID II.

Published on April 27, 2017 in the Public Information Bulletin of the Government Legislation Centre, the draft law on electro mobility and alternative fuels envisages, inter alia, new responsibilities for the gas distribution system operators to develop refueling infrastructure for CNG and LPG vehicles. The bill seeks to implement EP / Council Directive 2014/94/EU of 22 October 2014 on the development of alternative fuels infrastructure.

Under the Directive, the Member States were obliged, inter alia, to create a sufficient number of LNG and CNG refueling points and to provide relevant information to users of alternative fuel vehicles. The draft law on electro mobility and alternative fuels imposes a number of obligations related to the implementation of the tasks set out in the Directive for distribution system operators. An article by Adam Wawrzynowicz and Tomasz Brzezinski discusses the particular responsibilities of the DSOs as envisaged in this project.

The article by W&W’s Adam Wawrzynowicz and Tomasz Brzezinski, entitled “Gas Industry Commitments under the Electro Mobility and Alternative Fuels Act” was published in the latest issue of the Gazette of the Chamber of Commerce of the Gas Industry, “Przegląd Gazowniczy” no 2/2017, p.20-21.

In April of this year, the website of the Government Legislation Centre published a draft bill amending the “Energy Law” by 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.

The proposed amendment aims for the gradual detariffication  of natural gas trading and the eventual total abandonment of natural gas price regulating. The draft bill also provides for the obligation to adapt natural gas sale contracts and comprehensive agreements to the requirements of detariffication. Adam Wawrzynowicz’s article discusses the scope and schedule of detariffication and assesses the changes and the proposed date of entry into force of the Act.

The article by W&W’s Adam Wawrzynowicz, “Proposed detariffication in the gas market” was published in the latest edition of the magazine of the Chamber of the Natural Gas Industry “Przegląd gazowniczy” No. 2/2016, pp. 38 – 40.

The article “Legal aspects of the implementation of support mechanisms for the operation of the Swinoujscie LNG terminal ” by W&W’s Adam Wawrzynowicz and Tomasz Brzezinski appeared in the June issue of the monthly ” Nafta-Gaz ” (No. 6/2016), published by the Publishing House of the Institute of Oil and Gas – The National Research Institute.

Despite the expansion of the gas interconnectors on its western and southern borders, Poland is still overly dependent on gas supplies from the east and at risk of disruption of supply due to the geopolitical situation. In this context, the LNG terminal in Swinoujscie is crucial for Polish energy security as a new entry point to the national transmission system (NTS) providing access to the global LNG market and offering opportunities for the diversification of gas supply sources. At the same time, 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.

The article presents a framework for the potential implementation of mechanisms to increase the competitiveness and availability of the LNG terminal to market participants. In addition to legislation, it considers the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Commission, to be considered for possible support mechanism implementation plans in Poland for the operation of the terminal. The article cites the example of the successful implementation of the support system for the Klaipėda LNG terminal  notified to the European Commission in 2013.

Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (REMIT), which exists to improve the transparency of the wholesale electricity and gas markets, imposes numerous responsibilities on market participants. The parts of the Regulation relating to standard contracts will come into force as early as 7 October 2015 while those relating to concluding back-loaded OTC contracts will come into force on 7 April 2016. The Act regulating in detail the procedure for REMIT reporting is Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1348/2014.

The article appearing in the magazine “Nowa energia” focuses on the practical aspects of the implementation duties and primarily analyzes what the standard reporting contracts and basic data to be sent to ACER will consist of. It covers, among others, what services the Polish Power Exchange, which has already acquired the status of an RRM (Registered Reporting Mechanism), will supply and how to start reporting a transaction through this platform. The article focuses on the backloading of individual contracts, and what role ARIS will play in the reporting process.

A number of practical tips are contained in the article. It underlines the fact that some of the fundamental data is already collected by specialized entities and institutions under the provisions of European and EU legislation. These include ENTSO for Electricity, ENTSO for Gas and LNG system and storage operators, which pass on some of the fundamental data to ACER in the name of market participants.

The article “The Next Steps in the Implementation of Remit – The Reporting of Transactions in Wholesale Energy Markets and Fundamental Data” by W&W’s Tomasz Brzezinski and Anna Mathews was published in the latest issue of the bimonthly publication ” Nowa energia ” No. 4/2015.

The article from W&W’S Kamil Iwicki  covers the most important provisions of the current Regulation, and forms the conclusion that such provisions are inadequate for the present situation on the natural gas market, in particular in relation to the ever greater degree of competitiveness in the market. The present arrangements for gas supply diversification are discussed and reasons are given for why the obligations laid down in the Regulation are very difficult to implement by Polish energy companies. The article also indicates that there are further reasons why it was decided to prepare a new Regulation.

The article analyzes the changes which have necessitated the establishment of a new draft of the Regulation and examines the current problems of interpretation and application of the 2000 Regulation. The most frequent complaints in relation to the current diversification Regulation concern the difficulties of interpretation and in particular the interpretation of fundamental concepts such as “import” or “country of origin of gas” which are not defined in the 2000 Regulation or in the Energy Law. The draft Regulation is an attempt to address these ambiguities.

The article, “The draft of the new diversification Regulation” was published in the latest issue of the magazine “Nowa Energia ” No. 02-03 / 2015, p. 24 – 26.

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