Baltic, Energy, EU – Baltic States, Gas, Gas Market

Members of the governments welcomed the progress made on the subject by the gas network operating companies and prepared a joint memorandum defining clearly the principles for uniting the national gas markets. It was emphasized that the memorandum with the network operators should be concluded already in the coming few months, as this is necessary for the implementation of legislative changes, spokespeople for the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications said.

The prime ministers of the Baltic countries signed an agreement on the establishment of a joint market for natural gas in December 2016. The agreement called for the formation of a group for the coordination of the common regional gas market consisting of the relevant ministries, market regulators and gas infrastructure operators. The aim is to set forth a common set of rules concerning the gas market.

The joint Baltic gas market is expected to be functional in 2020 and it will be joined by Finland at a later point.

In June the energy market regulators of the Baltic countries and Finland agreed to enact transitional gas transmission tariffs from next year with the aim of reducing trade barriers. The same transmission tariffs will be introduced at the entry points to the Baltic countries and taxation of the supply of gas among the Baltic countries will be abolished.