
The South-East European Gas Initiative
The South-East European Gas (SEEGAS) Initiative, launched by the Energy Community Secretariat in December 2020, is a response to stakeholders’ increasing interest to establish organized gas exchanges and improve cross-border trading.
The initiative aims to foster closer cooperation between national gas exchanges and TSOs in the region to enable further market opening, better services for traders and ultimately benefit end-consumers through increased competition in gas trading.
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Memorandum of Understanding
July 2021: Memorandum of Understanding
On 21 July 2021, a Memorandum of Understanding about trans-regional cooperation on the development of an integrated South-Eastern and Eastern European gas market was signed by the Energy Community Secretariat, energy exchanges and trading service providers BRM, UEEX, TGE, CEEGEX and ECG and transmission system operators Moldovatransgaz, GTSOU, FGSZ and GAZ-SYSTEM. The signatories aim to cooperate on the development of cross-border natural gas trading, e.g. on exchange platforms, and introduce transparent and competitive interregional market-based pricing mechanisms and efficient cross-border gas transmission and interoperability.
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Document Name Published on 19.07.2021- SEEGAS Report
December 2021: SEEGAS Report
Parallel to the 2nd Joint Steering Committee meeting, the Secretariat published its SEEGAS report with the title Introduciton to the SEEGAS Initiative and Gas Exchange Development in the Region.The report begins by providing an overview of the SEEGAS Initiative and summarizing its achievements to date. The second chapter outlines gas market and exchange developments in the SEEGAS participating countries, three Energy Community Contracting Parties (Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), five EU Member States (Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Poland and Romania) and one Observer to the Energy Community (Turkey). All countries which are covered by this report are either in the process of establishing exchange traded gas markets or have such markets already in operation.
The SEEGAS report should not be considered as a regulatory report but rather as a collection of information compiled and developed by the Energy Community Secretariat based on the implementation report and on information submitted by key regional stakeholders and in close consultation with them.
- Public consultation
May 2021: public consultation
From 12 May 2021 to 30 June 2021, the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the Energy Community Secretariat (ECS) carried out a joint public consultation regarding gas capacity availability and use on a number of interconnection points (IPs). The IPs concerned are located on the borders of the EU Member States and the Energy Community Contracting Parties and between the Energy Community Contracting Parties. By way of this consultation, ACER and the ECS aimed at gaining a firmer understanding of stakeholders’ views on best practices in pursuit of enhancing connectivity, optimal use of existing capacity, market integration, and competition.
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SEEGAS Stakeholder Platform
SEEGAS Stakeholder Platform
4th SEEGAS Stakeholder Platform Meeting
Date Focus 17 DEC 2021
Celebrating the first anniversary of the SEEGAS initiative, the speakers provided achievement updates:
• A general achievement update of the initiative and the launch of the SEEGAS report
• News from the exchanges active in the region
• A traders perspective on the status of regional gas market development3rd SEEGAS Stakeholder Platform Meeting
Date Focus 15 JUN 2021
The Energy Community Secretariat decided to host a third Stakeholder Meeting on 12 June 2021. Given the overwhelming interest by participants in the topic, this session focused entirely on clearing. Over the course of the SEEGAS initiative, many stakeholders stressed that the development of clearing services will be key for the region. This meeting had a more interactive format, focusing on those stakeholders directly involved in developing/providing clearing services in the SEEGAS region for gas trading. This closed format with less participants facilitated constructive discussion around what would need to be in place to potentially create favourable conditions for a regional clearing solution to be developed. 2nd SEEGAS Stakeholder Platform Meeting
Date Focus 10 MAR 2021
Gas experts continued their efforts to harmonise views and practices in relation to the development of a common and integrated SEE & EE gas market during the second SEEGAS Stakeholder Meeting on 10 March 2021. The central theme was the topic of clearing and the importance of clearing services for market development. Panellists underlined that clearing systems require well-defined rules and correct implementation of the EU’s legal framework. This includes EU Directive 2014/65/EU on Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and EU Regulation No 600/2014 on Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) as the most effective tools to underpin market confidence. The event was supported by presentations from clearing service providers and energy exchanges in the SEE region, the European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET) and the Association of European Energy Exchanges (Europex). Kick-off meeting of the SEEGAS Stakeholder Platform
Date Focus 15 DEC 2020
On 15 December 2020, the Energy Community Secretariat officially launched the SEEGAS Platform with its first SEEGAS Stakeholder Meeting. During the first stakeholder meeting, a group of active energy exchanges in the region, consisting of BRM, UEEX, CEEGEX, HEnEX, TGE and CEGH, presented themselves and their gas exchange development projects. Regional stakeholders discussed the remaining challenges and made practical proposals towards market integration, such as implicit allocations. With around 90 participants, the event was also attended by gas trading companies such as Shell, ENGIE, OMV and Uniper. The event was supported by EBRD and ICIS. -
Joint Steering Committee
Joint Steering Committee
In order to establish a dialogue between the relevant stakeholders in the region with the aim of facilitating the goals mentioned and tackling potential obstacles to gas market integration, the Energy Community Secretariat established the SEEGAS Stakeholder Meetings. These recurring meetings served as a platform to introduce the current, most significant stakeholders in the SEE & EE regions and to share best practices towards further development of regional exchange traded markets for gas. The first meeting took place on 15 December 2020, with follow-up meetings in various constellations taking place every three months.
3rd SEEGAS Joint Steering Committee
Date Focus 17 - 18 MAR 2022
The third JSC was conducted as an extraordinary crises response meeting. The first day covered gas infrastructure issues, risk preparedness and availability of gas in the region, including supply diversification options. The second day looked into gas market situation and debated the potential reaction to surging market prices. In addition to the gas exchange representatives, also ENTSOG, ACER, Socar, Botas, Desfa, EBRD and USAID contributed to the discussions. 2nd SEEGAS Joint Steering Committee
Date Focus 16 DEC 2021
The second SEEGAS Joint Steering Committee took place online. The JSC members agreed on the developed terms of references and tasks. Two follow-up projects were initiated; one covering the exchanges and post trading environment, the other focusing on the TSOs and feasibility of Trans-Balkan reverse flow. 1st SEEGAS Joint Steering Committee
Date Focus 16 - 17 SEPT 2021
The first SEEGAS Joint Steering Committee met physically in Vienna and established the terms of references and tasks of this trans-regional working group.