The development of the fuel gas storage sector, legal environment changes, and the importance of operating principles for the market sector

The gas fuel storage segment has in recent years undergone a profound transformation in the process of building a competitive gas market and becoming an important instrument of Polish energy policy serving the enhancement of energy security. The processes of separating the storage system operator (OSM) in organizational, functional and legal terms and the introduction of the principle of non-discriminatory third party access to storage facilities (TPA) is accompanied by the construction of new investments and the expansion of existing underground gas storage (UGS) and the procedures available on the market for new storage capacity. The growth of the availability of storage services as so far been gradual, and alongside the dominant function of holding gas reserves, the potential for using UGS for maintaining trade stock is gaining in importance; thus allowing retailers a quick response to peak demand for gas customers in the winter and, potentially, to respond to increases and decreases in gas prices. In addition, the gas fuel storage segment is now preparing, like other segments of the gas market, the introduction of billing in units of energy from August 2014. This will significantly affect the conditions for storage service. (abstract)

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