The recent statements of the Minister for Energy, Constantin Niță, in terms of the obligativity to list the gases on the exchange have been followed by a parliamentary initiative: a group of 23 parliamentarians submitted a project for the amendment of the Energy Law aimed to set the obligativity of listing the transactions concerning gas on the exchange, in order to provide a transparent and non-discriminatory environment.
Forced to use the local exchanges
We could mention among the signatories Dumitru Chiriţă, Gheorghe Marin, Rodin Traicu, Florin Tătaru, Viorel Hrebenciuc, Neculai Răţoi, Emil Niţă, Ninel Peia and Sorin Grindeanu, according to Bursa.ro. The initiators assert that the measure shall drop the price of gas.
The measure of the deputies and senators stipulates that the operators on the gas market “should bid in a public and non-discriminatory manner, on the concurrential market, organized and managed based on specific rules set by the competent authority, the entire quantity of natural gas available on the market”. They incriminate “a current existing opacity on the gas market”, that “leads to a higher selling price than it should have been, the market being deprived of the advantages of a concurrential system”.
Bound to the distribution network
The Energy law will suffer, according to the project and to other amendments: the vulnerable consumers will take advantage of facilities in terms of the provision of the natural gas supply service and access to the network, but their disconnection from the network will be forbidden.
The National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) granted at the end of July last year, the licenses required by OPCOM (the operator of the Energy Exchange) and by the Romanian Commodities Exchange (BRM) for the administration of the centralized natural gas markets that would be the only used for the transactions in this sector.
Translated by Silktrans
