N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie
N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie was established in 1963 with the task of purchasing, transporting and selling Dutch natural gas. In the first 15 years of Gasunie’s existence the high-pressure gas transportation grid and the gas distribution network in the Netherlands were developed. Thanks to the discovery of the Groningen gas field and the company’s small field policy, more than 40 years of continuous growth took the company into a leading position as the main gas supplier within the European Union. In 2004 home-market sales volume amounted to over 35 billion mі and exports accounted for more than 50 billion mі. The Groningen gas field contributed 37% and other Dutch fields provided 52%, with imports accounting for almost 11%.
Gasunie has not only considerable reserves at its disposal in its own environment, but it also has large depleted gas fields and specially equipped storage at its disposal in a national setting. These are essential for Gasunie’s national market, but even more so for the export market in Europe.
Following the European Commission regulations and gas market liberalisation, within the N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie holding structure different organisations are being formed reflecting the process of a functional split:
Cooperation with Gazprom
In the mid-nineties, Gazprom and Gasunie unfurled initiatives aimed at coming to a long-term collaborative relationship that was highlighted with the signing in 1999 of a contract between Gasunie and Gazexport for gas purchases of 80 billion cubic metres in 20 years. Signing this contract also lead to a basis for cooperation between the companies in many different spheres: it includes not only fulfilment of contract obligations and looking for new opportunities for joint activities at the European market, but also IT knowledge exchange, planning models development, combined research activities in energy saving and energy efficiency, exchanging experience in the field of transmission fees and utilization of underground storage facilities, information and cultural exchange, human resource management.
The cooperation of Gazprom and Gasunie is really remarkable because so far there was mainly collaboration between producers and consumers. Gazprom, producer in the largest production environment in the world and Gasunie, European supplier at the centre of the world’s largest sales market, can together build up a combination with which large volumes of gas are imported on a continuous basis, and traded in Europe with a flexibility that is appropriate to the needs of the immediate end-users.
Activities continue to develop and new topics for cooperation occur. Joint activities target at enhancing the flexibility of natural gas deliveries to Europe, which will allow to promptly react to seasonal and daily volatility of end consumers’ gas demand. In addition, the parties agreed to interact on the following matters: European gas market globalization, European energy policy, gas supply security and impact made by the liberalization of the energy market. The companies have agreed upon sharing experience in the gas transmission network operation and maintenance, dispatching control and European gas transmission network simulation. The research centre of Gasunie, VNIIgaz and Promgaz are to interact in working on technological solutions of environment-friendly gas transmission. Energy conservation programs and projects for industrial units in Russia will be developed.
In addition, Gazprom and Gasunie have very positive experiences cooperating in the framework of joint education through the Energy Delta Institute (EDI): defining topics of interest for expert training to the benefit of Russian and European energy companies, developing courses and workshops involving other energy companies and institutions. EDI was established in 2002 by N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie, Gazprom and the University of Groningen. The Gasunie contribution to EDI consists of more than four decades of gas business experience and a worldwide known reputation for proven reliability. EDI’s partnership with Gazprom, the largest gas company in the world, adds a wealth of expertise in areas like gas production and long-distance gas transport. The University of Groningen is vouching for the academic accreditation of the EDI Master programme. Groningen University ranks among the oldest of Europe, and has educated more than 100,000 graduates since its inception in 1614.
The initiative to found EDI can be traced back to the discussions about the delivery of Russian gas to The Netherlands, which started in the mid-nineties. Already in an early stage of these talks Gazprom and Gasunie agreed that the pipeline from the vast gas reservoirs in Siberia to the market of the Netherlands and the rest of North-West Europe should not only be used for the transportation of natural gas, but also to develop a platform for exchange and sharing of knowledge between the two companies and countries. The importance of the initiative for this link between Gazprom and Gasunie was also recognised at the level of the respective governments. It was underlined on several occasions by the Russian Minister of Energy and the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands. What makes EDI unique is the joint excellence: the best business practices of the gas industry are combined with first-rate professional training competencies of its academic partners.
Strategic cooperation with Gazprom and widening the scope of interaction with business partners and key political representatives are among the priority tasks of the company, the realisation of which is strongly supported by the Gasunie Representative Office in Moscow.