Norway Improves Gas Data Reporting
From April 4, Norwegian offshore pipeline system operator Gassco will be providing more details on planned maintenance, unplanned incidents and the flow of gas in and out of the transport system, it said April 3. Executive vice-president Kristin Kinn Kaste said: "Among other steps, we’ll be lowering the threshold for providing information about transport reductions related to planned maintenance. Furthermore, the initial notification of incidents will be brought forward so that the general public is informed at the same as the gas sellers.”
The threshold for reporting planned incidents on flow.gassco.no is being lowered from 20 to 5mn m³/day. This limit also applies for notifying unplanned incidents.
In addition to providing information on gas flow out of the system, Gassco will now be giving details about gas flowing in as well. That will indicate the balance in the transport system. However, the balance can vary without affecting daily deliveries to customers. This could be caused, for example, by planned variations in rates over a day from fields and at delivery points.
“We’ve had a good process with users of the transport system to identify solutions which ensure greater openness and more coordinated information about system operation,” says Kaste.
Norway set a very high bar for operational transparency with Nord Pool, the power exchange that obliges every outage to be reported within a short space of time, or be fined. This makes it harder for traders to capitalise on insider knowledge about available capacity. Norway is the biggest supplier of gas to the European Union, after Russia, last year supplying 124bn m³.
Banner photo: Gassco pipeline terminal at Dornum on the German North Sea coast - one of six such receiving terminals in four EU countries (Credit: Gassco)