With the conclusion of contracts for market area cooperation and establishment of a joint company, the gas transport companies, Gasunie Deutschland, ONTRAS – VNG Gastransport, WINGAS TRANSPORT and StatoilHydro Deutschland and DONG Energy Pipelines have laid the basis for merging their market areas. The new market area and the company that will be responsible for the balancing pool management will be called “GASPOOL”. The company is to be based in Berlin. The new cooperation is subject to approval by the responsible monopolies commission.

 “GASPOOL is the perfect name for our objectives. It reflects our claim that we are creating one of Germany’s leading gas trading places right in the heart of Europe. This first cooperation on an equal basis between five transport system operators with widespread market coverage is also open to other companies, and therefore meets the requirements for optimum acceptance on the market. The partnership practiced here on an equal footing is a fundamental reason for the project’s success,” is how the cooperation partners explained their venture on the occasion of signing the contracts.

The pipeline operators from Hanover, Leipzig, Kassel, Emden and Kiel had already announced their intention to merge their existing, separate market areas back in March. This will now create a transport and trading area for natural gas that includes more the 300 networks virtually all over Germany. The cooperation makes it easier to transport gas across and beyond ownership lines, and gives competition in the German and European gas market a crucial boost.