An entity that is obliged to maintain a mandatory gas stock can purchase storage services on its own from a domestic or foreign storage system operator and create a stock on the basis of reserved storage capacity. In the case of maintaining a stockpile outside the country, it is additionally necessary to provide transmission capacity, securing the transportation of gas to the national transmission system. An alternative form of fulfilling the obligation is to outsource the maintenance of mandatory reserves to another entity, either in Poland or abroad. The service of maintaining mandatory reserves on behalf of another entity is called a ticket service.
Conclusion of a ticketing service agreement with ORLEN ensures fulfillment of the obligation to maintain a mandatory stock of natural gas in accordance with national regulations. ORLEN's offer is competitive compared to other solutions operating on the market. The service is tailored to the Customer's needs in terms of the volume of mandatory reserves it intends to store.
There is no obligation for the Customer to conclude contracts for storage services with the storage system operator, which are necessary for injecting, maintaining as well as withdrawing mandatory reserves.
The offered service is comprehensive, it can be implemented in a “one stop shop” model - depending on the Client's decision, within the framework of the power of attorney granted, all information obligations to the minister responsible for energy, the President of the Energy Regulatory Office, Gas Storage Poland (storage system operator) or OGP Gaz-System S.A. (transmission system operator) can be performed as part of the service.
ORLEN offers to provide a ticket service for a period of 1 gas year.
The volume of the ticket service provided is adjusted by ORLEN according to the customer's needs. Possible limitations may result from the availability of storage and transmission infrastructure.
The cost of the ticketing service depends on a number of factors, including the cost of storage packages. The rates for the service are market-based and competitive compared to the services offered by the storage system operator.
The customer is obliged to calculate the volume of mandatory reserves on its own and submit the determined volume to the President of the ERO for verification. Upon receipt of the ERO President's decision on the matter, the Customer is obliged to submit it to ORLEN.
The Customer may grant a power of attorney to represent it before the Minister responsible for energy, the ERO, Gas Storage Poland (GSA) and the TSO with respect to the execution of the Ticket Service Agreement.
Entities that have not previously cooperated with ORLEN are additionally required to provide basic company data in order to verify the counterparty and assess its creditworthiness. This is a standard procedure for new Customers or, in certain cases, also for existing Customers, used by ORLEN.
The customer may be required to establish collateral for payments under the contract.
As part of the service provided by ORLEN, the customer may grant a power of attorney to represent it before the minister responsible for energy, the ERO, Gas Storage Poland (TSO) and the TSO with regard to the implementation of the ticket service agreement. The ticket service can therefore be provided in a “one stop shop” model. In this model, the customer is only required to obtain a decision from the ERO President accepting the size of the established mandatory reserve.
Pursuant to the Law on Stocks, the volume of emergency stocks of natural gas must correspond to at least 30-days’ average daily import of such gas, determined based on the volume of import during the period from 01 April in the preceding year until 31 March of present year.
Yes, LNG is also subject to this statutory obligation, since LNG is classified as natural gas within the meaning of the Law on Stocks. When LNG terminal is used, the obligation to maintain emergency stocks is vested in the entity using regasification or handling services and whose regasified gas is injected into the transmission network or reloaded to other means of transportation.
According to the Law on Stocks, the mandatory stock is held by the minister in charge of energy. The activation of the stock by the transmission system operator takes place with the approval of the minister responsible for energy, in the event of disruptions in the supply of natural gas to the gas system, the occurrence of unforeseen damage or destruction of the network, causing a threat to the security of the operation of the gas system, or the occurrence of an unforeseen increase in the consumption of natural gas.