Greek LNG terminal users request more flexibility

Greek gas market participants have urged changes to the capacity allocation procedure at the country's 3.6mn t/yr Revithoussa LNG terminal and have called for more flexibility regarding LNG storage periods and transfers of delivery slots and regasification capacity.

Regulatory authority RAE received four responses to its consultation on measures proposed by terminal operator Desfa that are aimed at increasing the facility's utilisation and at providing more flexibility to users. Besides state-owned Depa, utilities Motor Oil Hellas, PPC and Elpedison responded to the consultation.

Slot allocation

Market participants suggested different approaches with regard to how slots should be allocated.

Depa, which holds a long-term LNG supply contract with Algeria's Sonatrach, requested changes that would prioritise firms with long-term commitments during the scheduling. The firm said that the duration of supply contracts should be considered a criterion because of higher risks that these are associated with. Priority should also be given to users that provide balancing services, the company said.

PPC and Motor Oil Hellas — which were excluded from the annual unloading schedule despite requesting slots — called for a more transparent methodology to be applied for monthly and annual scheduling. PPC said that access to the terminal should be provided to all users that request slots for the annual schedule. The firm proposed that the operator should take into account the history of each user related to previous consumption and unloading volumes. Priority should be given for the annual scheduling to users that have reserved regasification capacity at least equal to the capacity needed for the declared unloading. Under existing regulations, users have to book delivery slots and regasification capacity separately.

Motor Oil Hellas proposed the introduction of auctions to allocate delivery slots and corresponding regasification capacity. This would help to ensure that firms can reserve the regasification capacity needed for their specific deliveries.

Temporary storage

Firms also called for measures that would extend the period over which firms can regasify cargoes.

Motor Oil Hellas said that under existing regulations, users need to regasify and send out the gas into the grid over a short time period. This makes it difficult for smaller firms to fully use their supply, it said.

And Depa said that the existing calculation method for the maximum temporary storage capacity leads to very limited capacity that requires high regasification on the first day of delivery. For instance, for a cargo of 500GWh with a temporary storage period of four days, the maximum temporary storage capacity is 250GWh, which means that the user needs to regasify half of its cargo on the first day to prevent if from exceeding the allowed storage space, Depa said. The state-owned company said that users should have the option to declare two days as an unloading period. This would be possible under the network code, but in practice users have to declare single days for their unloading. Allowing to declare two days as the unloading period would lead to a higher maximum temporary storage capacity for the first day, avoiding high regasification rates, Depa said.

The majority of companies also agreed that the operator should inform users on a daily basis on their maximum temporary storage space and the additional storage space that they have been nominated.

Capacity transfers

Firms urged more flexibility with regard to transfers of delivery slots and regasification capacity between users.

Delivery slots can be transferred between different users under existing regulations but a fee is applied to such transfers.

A transfer of nominated slots between users should be facilitated for the better operation and utilisation of the terminal, the majority of firms said.

Depa said that no fee should be applied for changes to the monthly schedule that have been communicated to the operator four days before the delivery and the company proposed the elimination of the specific provision.

Depa also proposed to enable a transfer of available reserved regasification capacity between users, which is not possible under existing regulations. This would serve users that are in need of extra capacity as well as firms that have booked capacity above their actual needs.

PPC said that the ability for users to swap volumes of gas inside the tank on an intra-day basis would provide flexibility to users.

By Eleni Charisi