New EU gas market package limits supply from Russia, Belarus

The Council of the European Union adopted a resolution and a directive on Tuesday establishing common internal market rules for renewable and natural gases and hydrogen, and reforming existing EU gas legislation, News.Az reports citing Interfax.

"Member states should exceptionally be able to take proportionate measures to limit temporarily up-front bidding for capacity by any single network user at entry points and at LNG terminals for deliveries from the Russian Federation and Belarus, where necessary to protect their essential security interests," the Council said.

The resolution says the European Commission "should take the appropriate available measures to ensure that the exclusion of natural gas or LNG supplies originating in, and LNG supplies from LNG facilities located in, the Russian Federation or Belarus [...] is effective."

"Natural gas supplies originating in, and LNG supplies from LNG facilities located in, the Russian Federation or Belarus should not be offered through the mechanism for demand aggregation and the joint purchasing of natural gas until December 31, 2025," the document, which is more than 280 pages, says.

"After that date, the Commission should be able to decide to temporarily exclude natural gas supplies originating in, or LNG supplies from LNG facilities located in, the Russian Federation or Belarus for periods of up to one year," it said.

"The mechanism for demand aggregation and the joint purchasing of natural gas is an important instrument to organize the diversification of natural gas supplies and phasing out of the dependency on Russian natural gas in many member states," it said.

The new rules will "allow renewable gas and low-carbon gas and hydrogen to play an important role" in the EU and help achieve EU de-carbonization targets.

The package "establishes [...] guidelines for natural gas and hydrogen, amending guidelines [...] and sets guidelines as regards new natural gas and hydrogen infrastructure," the Council said in its communique.

The resolution sets out rules for transporting, delivering and storing natural gas and hydrogen. Gas and hydrogen pipeline operators are due to draft a ten-year plan for the development of the EU network.

News.Az