Reporting Obligations Of European Natural Gas Producers

Obligation To Report Inside Information

The EU natural gas producers are explicitly mentioned as "market participants" in the Article 3(4)(b) of REMIT¹ and are therefore considered market participants if they enter into transactions in one or more wholesale energy markets for the sale of natural gas².
According to the Article 4(1) of REMIT, the EU natural gas producers have the obligation as "market participants" to publicly disclose in an effective and timely manner the inside information³ which they possess in respect of their business or facilities, particularly the information relating to the planned or unplanned unavailability of their facilities for gas production.
The inside information related to the planned or unplanned unavailability of gas production facilities has to be reported to ACER in the form of Urgent Market Messages (UMMs) via web feeds on the gas producer`s web site and on a platform for the disclosure of inside information<sup>4</sup>.
The Article 10(1) of the EU Commission Implementing Regulation No. 1348/2014 stipulates that the market participants disclosing inside information on their website or service providers disclosing such information on market participants` behalf shall provide web feeds to enable the ACER to collect efficiently inside information for market monitoring purposes.
ACER shall identify the location of the web feed through the URL address provided by the natural gas producer at the time of registration as "market participant"⁵.
The reporting schema for the disclosure of inside information related to the planned or unplanned unavailability of gas production facilities is presented in Annex VII of REMIT Manual of Procedures on transaction data, fundamental data and inside information reporting⁶. The schema contains 18 fields:
In the Field 1 "Message ID" must be inserted the unique identifier of the UMM.
In the Field 2 "Event Status" must be stated the status of the UMM, i.e. Active, Dismissed or Inactive. The term "Active" must be inserted when referring to an event that will occur in the future or is occurring. The term "Dismissed" refers to an UMM that was cancelled and is not valid anymore. The term "Inactive" has to be inserted when referring to an event that already occurred in the past. The UMM related to an event may be updated several times before, during or after the event, whenever the Event Status changes. However, it is not mandatory to insert the term "Inactive" when the date and time of the event have expired. The status value "Active" can be maintained for UMMs referring to past events⁷.
In the Field 3 "Type of Unavailability", the natural gas producer must state whether the unavailability was planned or not, using the words "planned" or "unplanned" to indicate the type of unavailability. A planned unavailability occurs in case of scheduled maintenance or repair works. An unplanned unavailability occurs in case of unforeseen technical problems.
In the Field 4/b "Type of Event", the natural gas producer can state the subject of the unavailability as "Gas production field unavailability" or "Gas treatment plant unavailability", as the case may be. In case of other types of unavailability, the type of event should be stated as "Other unavailability".
In the Field 5 "Publication date/time" it is shown the date and time when the UMM was made publicly available, i.e. when the inside information was disclosed to the public through the UMM.
This information is generated automatically when the UMM is published.
In the Field 6 "Event Start", the natural gas producer must state the expected (if it is a future event) or actual starting time and date of the relevant event. If the exact time of the "Event Start" is not known at the time of the publication of UMM, the natural gas producer should insert an estimated time rounded to the nearest hour and the UMM should be updated once the information on the event allows the natural gas producer to provide more accurate information as to the starting time.
In the Field 7 "Event Stop", the natural gas producer must state the expected (if it is a future event) or actual time and date at which the relevant event stops. If the exact time of the "Event Stop" is not known at the time of the publication of UMM, the natural gas producer should insert an estimated time rounded to the nearest hour and the UMM should be updated once the information on the event allows the natural gas producer to provide more accurate information.
In the Field 8 "Unit of measurement", the natural gas producer must state the measurement unit used for reporting unavailable capacity, available capacity and technical capacity of the production facility or gas treatment plant during the unavailability period. The gas production field unavailability can be reported in mcm/d.
In the Field 9 "Unavailable capacity", the natural gas producer must state the technical capacity of the production facility or gas treatment plant that will be unavailable due to the reported event.
In the Field 10 "Available capacity", the natural gas producer must state the technical capacity of the affected facility (production unit or gas treatment plant) that will remain available during the reported event.
In the Field 11/b "Technical capacity", the natural gas producer must state the daily maximum net sustained flow capacity that the affected production facility can produce continuously under normal conditions and relevant security standards.
In the Field 12 "Reason for the unavailability", the natural gas producer must provide an explanation on the cause of the unavailability. For instance, in case of shutdown of a gas processing plant for planned maintenance works, the reason could be stated as "Planned maintenance of gas treatment plant".
In the Field 13 "Remarks", the natural gas producer must provide more detailed information of the event to allow a full understanding of its potential impact on the wholesale energy prices. In case of planned maintenance, the producer should mention whether the production will be affected and for how long. In case of an unplanned event when an estimation of duration is not possible, the producer should mention that.
In the Field 15/b "Balancing Zone", the natural gas producer must identify the balancing zone(s) where the production unit/gas treatment plant is located or feeds into, using the EIC Y Code for the respective balancing zone(s).
In the Field 16 "Affected Asset or Unit", the natural gas producer must state the official name of the gas field or gas treatment plant where the event is occurring or is about to occur.
In the Field 17 "Affected Asset or Unit EIC Code", the natural gas producer must state the EIC Code of the production unit/gas treatment plant that is or will be unavailable.
In the Field 18 "Market Participant", it must be inserted the official name of the market participant that is responsible for the public disclosure of the inside information (i.e. natural gas producer) related to the event described in the UMM.
In the Field 19 "Market Participant Code", the natural gas producer must provide the ACER registration code, which the natural gas producer received when it registered as "market participant" with the national regulatory authority.
The UMMs should be stored for a time period of at least 90 days after the submission via the web feeds.

Obligation To Report Gas Storage Data

The EU natural gas producers have the obligation to report to ACER, and on request, to the national regulatory authorities the volume of gas stored at the end of each gas day. This obligation is stipulated in the Article 9(9) of the EU Commission Implementing Regulation No. 1348/2014.
This information should be provided to ACER in the Storage Participant Activity Report no later than the next working day following the reported gas day.
The natural gas producers can delegate their reporting obligation to the Storage System Operators or to a third party RRM (Registered Reporting Mechanism).

Obligation To Report Gas Transaction Data

The EU natural gas producers which supply natural gas in the EU are considered to be "market participants" under REMIT and must report to ACER each sale transaction providing for the physical delivery of natural gas in EU, irrespective of the location of the delivery point in the EU⁸, pursuant to the provisions of Article 8(1) of REMIT and Article 3 of the EU Commission Implementing Regulation No. 1348/2014.
The sale contracts providing for the physical delivery of natural gas produced by a gas production facility with a production capacity greater than 20MW have to be reported on a continuous basis, pursuant to the provisions of Article 3 of the EU Commission Implementing Regulation No. 1348/2014.
The sale contracts providing for the physical delivery of natural gas produced by a gas production facility with a production capacity equal to or less than 20MW are reportable to ACER only upon reasoned request of ACER and on ad-hoc basis, unless such contracts are concluded on organised market places⁹.
The sale transactions concluded outside an organised market place must be reported to ACER by the market participants themselves or through the designated RRM (the registered reporting mechanism indicated at the time of registration as "market participants" with the national regulatory authority to which they delegate the responsibility of reporting on their behalf)¹⁰.
The sale transactions concluded at an organised market place must be reported to ACER through the organised market place where the transaction was concluded, pursuant to the provisions of the Article 6(1) of the EU Commission Implementing Regulation No. 1348/2014. In such case, the organised market place concerned, as RRM, will have the responsibility for the completeness, accuracy and timely submission of the transaction data to ACER. The market participants concluding gas sale transactions at organised market places will be relieved of the responsibility to verify the completeness, accuracy and timely submission of the transaction data to ACER¹¹.
The EU natural gas producers have also the obligation to report to ACER the options, futures, swaps and any other derivatives of contracts relating to the natural gas produced and delivered in the EU. The transactions for derivatives concluded at organised market places must be reported to ACER through the organised market place where the transaction was concluded, pursuant to the provisions of the Article 6(1) of the EU Commission Implementing Regulation No. 1348/2014.

by Vlad Cioarec, International Trade Consultant

This article has been published in Commoditylaw`s Gas Trade Review Edition No. 2.

Endnotes:

1. EU Regulation No. 1227/2011 on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency.
2. See Sub-section 3.4 of ACER Guidance on the application of REMIT.
3. According to the Article 2(1) of REMIT, "inside information" means information of a precise nature which has not been made public, which relates, directly or indirectly, to one or more wholesale energy products and which, if it were made public, would be likely to significantly affect the prices of those wholesale energy products.
4. A platform for the disclosure of inside information is an electronic system for the delivery of information which allows multiple market participants to share information with the wide public. See Sub-section 7.1 of ACER`s Manual of Procedures on transaction data, fundamental data and inside information reporting. The list of the third party inside information platforms is available on REMIT Portal: https://www.acer-remit.eu/portal/home.
5. The URL address must be provided in the Section 1 of the registration form under the field "Publication of inside information".
6. See the schema for UMMs related to "Unavailability of gas facilities".
7. See ACER Answer to Question 5.1.3 in ACER document "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on REMIT fundamental data and inside information collection (6th Edition)" available on REMIT Portal: https://www.acer-remit.eu/portal/home.
8. The transactions for the sale of natural gas delivered at offshore platforms situated on a continental shelf in the EU are reportable contracts. See ACER Answer to Question III.3.41 in ACER document "Questions and Answers on REMIT", 23rd Edition. The transactions for the sale of natural gas delivered within a storage facility are reportable contracts. See ACER Answer to Question 1.1.8 in ACER document "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on REMIT transaction reporting".
9. See Article 4(1)(c) of the EU Commission Implementing Regulation No. 1348/2014.
10. According to Article 8(1) of REMIT, the information reported shall include the precise identification of the wholesale energy products bought and sold (i.e. natural gas), the price and quantity agreed, the dates and times of execution, the parties to the transaction, the beneficiaries of the transaction and any other relevant information.
11. See ACER Answer to Question III.2.44 in ACER document "Questions and Answers on REMIT", 23rd Edition.