Open Season 2012
General information
As the independent transmission system operator for natural gas in the Netherlands, Gas Transport Services B.V. (GTS) is responsible for the uninterrupted supply of gas through the national grid. It is the responsibility of GTS to ensure that there is sufficient capacity to provide a flexible, safe, economically viable and sustainable response to the overall demand for gas, both now and in the future.
The response to Open Season 2005 was remarkably high, as was demand for additional future capacity among shippers. Major investments in the expansion of the transport network will be needed to accommodate this extra demand. The company is therefore now working hard to implement this expansion programme. Based on the findings of Open Season 2005, GTS is building the following additional facilities:
• an extra 450 kilometres of pipelines, mainly from the northeast to the southwest and southeast of the Netherlands;
• two new compressor stations;
• expansion of two existing compressor stations.
Following the decision to invest in the Dutch gas roundabout new initiatives to create additional accesses to the roundabout have been announced. Initiatives to create LNG terminals in the Rotterdam harbour area and in the Eemshaven have grown more mature. A number of parties announced the development of underground storages in the Netherlands or just abroad.
Realisation of the mentioned projects will mean that additional capacity to bring gas on the Dutch gas roundabout will become available. In addition to this some of our customers who did not participate in Open Season 2005 have indicated that they would like to notify their capacity requirements.
GTS needs more insight into the entry and exit capacities related to these new developments in order to assess if sufficient transmission capacity will be available or that possibly additional investments will be required.
Therefore GTS starts Open Season 2012 to investigate future market demand. The aim of Open Season 2012 is to gauge demand for:
• future transport capacity of high calorific gas (H gas)
• future transport capacity of low calorific gas (G gas)
for the period beyond 2011.
Open Season 2012 is directed primarily at market parties who wish to contract capacity at boundary points in the gas transport network and at storage connection points on the network. A separate procedure will be devised for industries that are interested in expanding capacity at connection points. More information concerning this separate procedure will be provided in due course.
How to participate
If you are interested in taking part in Open Season 2012, please download the application form. Please complete the form and return it signed by an authorised representative of your organisation, as soon as possible to GTS, and by no means later than 15 August 2007. GTS will confirm the receipt of the application form by means of an e-mail.
Only parties that sign and return the application form will be added to the longlist of candidates who are invited to attend further discussions on their future capacity requirements within the context of the Open Season 2012.
Additional information concerning the Open Season 2012 can be found in the Open Season 2012 brochure.
