Oslo, April 28, 2023. Today the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy sent a letter to the licensees of the company immersed Sent, indicating that the state intends to exercise the right of repatriation at the end of the license period and wants full state ownership of the central parts of the Norwegian gas transportation system. The license agreement expires in 2028. Gassled was formed on January 1, 2003, when almost all of Norway’s existing gas transportation systems were brought together in a large new joint venture. Today’s owners are government and private companies. It includes onshore facilities at Kårstø and Kollsnes, as well as pipelines connecting producing fields in the North Sea and parts of the Norwegian Sea to these facilities and/or transportation to the UK and mainland Europe.
The main objective of oil policy is to enable profitable production of oil and gas in the long term. According to the Department of Energy, the gas transportation and regulation system plays a very central role in achieving this primary goal. A potential transition to full state ownership is assumed to be value neutral for the state. This means that the costs of government ownership of the system are fully covered by future tariff revenues.
When an acquisition requires a bonus, management understands that that bonus should be based on the expected future net income that the owners of the infrastructure will generate from their properties.
The government’s goal is to continue the basic principles of regulating the gas transportation system after 2028. It assumes that GASCO will continue to operate the system and use technical service providers. Tariffs should be cost oriented. Any investment in new gas infrastructure on the continental shelf still needs to be driven by the commercial players and their gas transportation needs.
Today, Gasled is owned by Petoro with 46.697 percent, CapeOmega with 26.322 percent, Hav Energy NCS Gas AS with 15.553 percent, Silex Gas Norway AS with 6.428 percent and Equinor with 5 percent.
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