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House of Lords
Session 1997-98
Publications on the internet
European Communities Committee Reports

European Communities - Seventh Report

Here you can browse the report together with the Proceedings of the Committee. The published report was ordered by the House of Lords to be printed 18 November 1997.



TABLE OF CONTENTS

REPORT Paragraph
PART 1 INTRODUCTION 1
The European Natural Gas Industry 1
    Europe's natural gas supplies 2
    The gas industries of the Member States 4
    Take-or-pay contracts 6
    Gas buyers and sellers 8
    The Hydrocarbons Licensing Directive 9
The origins and current status of the EU Gas Directive 11
Structure of the Report 23
Acknowledgements 24
PART 2 VIEWS OF WITNESSES 25
Background to the Directive 25
    Liberalisation in the United Kingdom 28
    Positions of the Member States 32
    Security of Supply 34
General responses to the draft Directive 36
Application to upstream production and competition in gas supply 46
Extent of market opening and thresholds for eligible customers 53
Take-or-pay contracts 62
    Derogations for take-or-pay 67
    Future take-or-pay contracts 72
    Alternatives to take-or-pay 76
    Take-or-pay and security of supply 79
Access to the gas network 82
    Network access and public service obligations 86
    Derogations for emergent markets and regions 88
    Dispute resolution and the Commission's role 90
    Transparency and Chinese walls 93
PART 3 OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE 98
General comments 98
    Impact of the Directive on the UK gas market 101
Issues on which substantial agreement has already been reached 102
    Regulated and Negotiated Access to Pipelines 103
    Transparency of accounts and Chinese walls 104
Aspects of the Directive still under negotiation 105
    Application of the Directive to upstream transmission pipelines 106
    Extent of market opening and thresholds for eligible customers 107
    Take-or-pay contracts and derogations 109
Recommendation 116
Appendix 1-Membership of Sub-Committee B
Appendix 2-List of witnesses
Appendix 3-Gas prices in the EU and the G7
Appendix 4-Letter from the Chairman of Sub-Committee B to Mr John Battle MP, Minister of State for Science, Energy and Industry
Appendix 5-Letter to the Chairman of Sub-Committee B from Mr John Battle MP, Minister of State for Science, Energy and Industry



 
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Prepared 27 November 1997