Energy Community gas TSOs certification

Transportgas is a limited liability company, whose founder and sole shareholder is the Republic of Serbia, and whose main field of activity is the transport of natural gas. The control by the Republic of Serbia over Transportgas is exercised through the Republic Commission for Energy Networks. Transportgas applied for certification as an independent system operator (ISO) on 25 July 2024.

In its Preliminary Decision, AERS concluded that Transportsgas complies with Article 14 of the Gas Directive.

In Opinion 3/24, the Secretariat raises several concerns, for example regarding the compliance of the transmission system owner with the requirement of legal unbundling under Article 15(1) of the Gas Directive and with the some of the system owner’s obligations in Article 14(5) of the Gas Directive.

Yugorosgaz-transport is a company established in October 2015 for the purpose of natural gas transport in Southern Serbia. Its owner is Yugorosgaz JSC, Belgrade, owned by Gazprom (50%), Srbijagas (25%) and Centrex Europe Energy & Gas AG (25%).

The AERS has made conditional certification of Yugorosgaz-transport as independent system operator (ISO) in both Preliminary and Final Decision. Both ECRB and ECS have concluded in their opinions that Yugorosgaz-transport is not able to operate the system effectively and independently from the system owner Yugorosgaz, for reasons of  unavailability of sufficient resources and the control of Yugorosgaz and Gazprom over Yugorosgaz-Transport, and also have emphasized the importance of assessment of security of supply issue, given that Gazprom, company established in a third country, holds 50% of shares of Yugorosgaz-transpot's owner, Yugorosgaz. Due to the certification of Yugorosgaz-Transport under the Independent System Operator model by AERS without fulfilling the requirements, the Ministerial Council adopted a decision establishing a breach by Republic of Serbia in Case ECS 10/17 and AERS has revoked its certification decision.

Gastrans is a project developer of natural gas pipeline project, that aims at transporting natural gas from Turkey (using capacities of the so-called TurkStream pipeline) and Bulgaria, and it was expected to start commercial operation on 1 January 2020. It is ultimately owned by Srbijagas (49%) and Russian natural gas holding Gazprom (51%). AERS certified Gastrans according to ITO model, and exempted it from TEP rules (unbundling, TPA and tariff setting) for period of 20 years.

The Secretariat's opinions and AERS’s decisions were diverging in both procedures on the exemption of Gastrans and the certification of Gastrans. In its Opinion 01/2019 on Exemption Decision, Secretariat concluded that the exemption of Gastarns’s Project from TEP rules is detrimental to competition due to dominant positions of Gastrans’s shareholders on Serbian gas market (Gazprom and Srbijagas) and that subsequently, the certification of Gastrans as an ITO is not an option, due to unlawful exemption from TEP rules and due to fact that ITO model is not applicable to a case which did not belong to a vertically integrated undertaking on 6 October 2011.However, AERS did not take of the utmost account the Opinion of Secretariat and has certified Gastrans as an independent transmission operator.

There is no certified gas transmission system operator in the Republic of North Macedonia. GA-MA is the only licensed gas transmission system operator operating in North Macedonia. It is owned by the Republic of North Macedonia and Makpetrol, a vertically integrated company in charge of import and supply of gas and is not unbundled under the rules of the Third Energy Package.

GTSO was established in February 2019 as a subsidiary of the joint stock company Ukrtransgaz, which is a 100% subsidiary of the vertically integrated gas undertaking Naftogaz of Ukraine. At the time of issuance of the Secretariat’s opinion, the transmission system operation was effectively conducted by Ukratransgaz. When adopting the Final Decision, NEURC took into account the Secretariat’s opinion and obliged the GTSO to provide evidence on fulfillment of the conditions by July 2020, upon which the new assessment of compliance would be conducted by the NEURC, the Secretariat and Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine. 

Gaspromet AD Pale is a joint stock company in the Republika Srpska. It is owned 65% by the State owned Fund, 10% by the Pension Fund, 5% by the Restitution Fund and 20% Investment funds & private small shareholders. Even though there is no law on state level that governs the gas market, Republika Srpska transposed the unbundling and certification requirements in line with the gas acquis on the territory of this entity in March 2019. The relevant institutional competences are assigned only to the entity regulator, completely omitting any reference to state-level institutions.

REERS adopted a preliminary decision for certification of GAS PROMET Pale and submitted it for an opinion to the Secretariat. Taking into account the opinion of the Secretariat, REERS certified Gaspromet Pale as a gas TSO operating the pipeline sections Šepak-Karakaj and Karakaj-Zvornik.

There are two other natural gas transmission system operators in Bosnia and Herzegovina. BH Gas d.d.o. is 100% owned by the Government of Federation BiH, which acts as a TSO at entity level but also performs activities of import and wholesale activities at the state level. Sarajevogas AD Istocno Sarajevo is a joint stock company and acts as transporter in Republika Srpska. The company performs transport, distribution system operation and retail supply in Republika Srpska.

Those two companies are neither unbundled nor certified.

LLC “Georgian Gas Transportation Company” GGTC is a limited liability company established under Georgian law and the State’s shares of GGTC are represented by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. GGTC does not legally own the physical assets used for the transmission of gas. They are owned by GOGC, a company active in the production, supply and trade of natural gas as well as generation of electricity. On 29 April 2021, GOGC founded LLC Georgian Natural Gas Transmission Owner (hereinafter “TNO”) and transferred ownership over the transmission system assets to it. GGTC concluded an agreement on the rent of the main gas pipelines and related infrastructure with GOGC in 2011 valid until 1 January 2022.

In its Opinion, the Secretariat concluded that GGTC does not comply with the unbundling provisions due to the State as sole shareholder also controlling companies active in production/supply activities in the gas/electricity sectors. Moreover, the lack of a lease agreement with the TNO precludes GGTC from having at its disposal the necessary technical and physical resources to perform the tasks of a TSO enshrined in Article 13 of the Gas Directive, and to comply with its obligations under the Gas Regulation. Furthermore, the TNO did not provide evidence for its ability to comply with its obligations under Article 14(5) of the Gas Directive. Finally, independence of the TNO from GOGC is not fully ensured because no compliance programme has been established as required under Article 15(2) of the Gas Directive.

LLC “Georgian Gas Transportation Company” GGTC is a limited liability company established under Georgian law and the State’s shares of GGTC are represented by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. GGTC does not legally own the physical assets used for the transmission of gas (in particular pipelines and (two currently inactive) compressor stations). They are owned by GOGC. On 29 April 2021, GOGC founded LLC Georgian Natural Gas Transmission Owner (hereinafter “TNO”) and transferred ownership over the transmission system assets to it. A  lease agreement was concluded between GGTC and TNO on 3 February 2022 and approved by GNERC.

In its Opinion, the Secretariat concluded that GGTC does not comply with the unbundling provisions due to the State as sole shareholder also controlling companies active in production/supply in the gas/electricity sectors. Most notably, GGTC is still directly and indirectly controlled by the same public body controlling also the public companies active in generation and/or supply of natural gas or electricity.

GNERC took into account the Secretariat’s Opinion and refused certification of GGTC. It gave a deadline to GGTC to comply with the conditions from the Final Decision by 1 August 2022 and to notify GNERC of fulfilling those conditions by 8 August 2022.

Vestmoldtransgaz, VMTG, has been operating the Moldovan gas transmission system previously operated by Moldovatransgaz since 19 September 2023, and applied for certification on 18 October 2023.

In the Preliminary Decision, ANRE concluded that VMTG largely complies with the requirements of the provisions regarding the independent system operator. However, when assessing the independence of the transmission system owner in relation to the vertically integrated undertaking, it found that persons responsible for the management of the transmission system owner Moldovatransgaz LLC participate in company structures of the integrated natural gas undertaking responsible, directly or indirectly, for the day-to-day operation of the supply of natural gas Moldovagaz JSC, which is not in line with Article 15(2)(a) of the Gas Directive.

In its Opinion 2/24, the Secretariat raises additional concerns about the lack of unbundling of some transmission system owners, as well as the fact that one of the transmission system owners performs extensive maintenance works. To address these and the rest of the concerns, the Secretariat requests ANRE to perform a series of additional analyses, including under Article 11 of the Gas Directive regarding Gazprom’s control over the owners of the gas transmission network, and to ensure that several conditions are met.

Vestmoldtransgaz, an emerging transmission system operator, was founded by the Moldovan Government and sold in 2018 to Eurotransgaz, a company owned by the Romanian TSO Transgaz.

On 9 July 2021, the Secretariat issued Opinion 2/2021, in which largely supported the certification of Vestmoldtransgaz in line with ANRE’s Preliminary Decision no 89/2021. However, the Secretariat found that before its commercial operation date (envisaged for 1 October 2021), Vestmoldtransgaz is not yet performing actual transmission services, but fulfills other important tasks of a transmission system operator. The Secretariat suggested that ANRE, in its Final Decision, demands that Vestmoldtransgaz presents ANRE a detailed roadmap with the remaining milestones leading to full commercial operation on 1 October 2021, and that all milestones are completed at least one month before commercial operation date.

The derogation for unbundling and certification of Moldova's gas TSOs expired on 1 January 2020.