The Working Committee 4 (WOC4) Gas Distribution meeting was the final of six biannual meetings held during the International Gas Union’s (IGUs) research triennium 2006–09 and represented the finalisation of research that commenced in September 2006.

Thirty four gas distribution operators and owners from 21 countries attended the meeting, which was hosted by the Gas Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina and assisted by Sarajevo Gas.

The outcomes of the meeting reflected the final stage of the research:

* Reports from three study groups covering asset management, leak detection and third party damage were finalised and submitted for issue at the World Gas Conference. * Committee members were nominated to present research findings at the World Gas Conference in October. * 31 (out of 64) paper submissions were selected to present at the various WOC4 sessions at the World Gas Conference. Awaiting IGU confirmation, the list includes a broad range of companies and topics within the category of gas distribution.

Article continues below…

A snapshot: the Eastern European gas industry

The WOC4 meeting provided an opportunity to learn about the Bosnian gas industry and regional plans for a gas ring. After the 1992–95 war, the Energy Community was formed, comprising Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, UN Mission in Kosovo, Bulgaria, and Romania. The Energy Community Treaty was enforced in July 2006 and serves to authorise directives and regulations on a range of gas industry issues including regulatory authorities, public service obligations, third party access and tariffs, balancing rules, policy for gas supply security, and emergency measures.

The Treaty aims to:

* Create a stable regulatory and market framework capable of attracting investment in gas networks, power generation, and transmission and distribution networks. * Create a single regulatory space for trade in network energy. * Enhance the supply security of the single regulatory space by improving the environmental situation in relation to network energy and related energy efficiency, foster the use of renewable energy, and set out conditions for energy trade in the single regulatory space. * Develop the network energy market competition on a broader geographic scale and exploit economies of scale.

Currently all gas to Bosnia is supplied from Russia via a single 16 inch diameter, 194 km pipeline that traverses Ukraine, Hungary and Serbia. Gas is imported into Bosnia and Herzegovina by a single supplier, government-founded BH-Gas, which is also the largest of four distribution companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Current gas consumption for energy use in Bosnia and Herzegovina is approximately 6 per cent (at 200 million cubic metres per annum) but predictions show that a steep increase in the use of gas may result in 15 per cent gas use by 2020. This is indicative of the high Eastern European regional growth.

In order to both address such reliance upon Russian supplies and fulfill the above treaty aims, an extensive network has been developed in the region with plans for numerous interconnects between countries. This is called the Energy Community Gas Ring.

Plans to import gas from alternative suppliers to the region include three LNG receival terminals in Croatia and access to the various new pan-Europe projects for gas transportation such as the Nabucco, South Stream and IAP pipelines.