Shippers have shown significant interest in south-north capacity from Italy to Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. They are however at this stage uncomfortable with making binding commitments because it is not clear when a number of issues will be resolved that are not in direct control of Fluxys TENP, FluxSwiss and Fluxys Belgium. The latter therefore discontinue their market process and will restart it as soon as the uncertainties are clarified.
Current market interest in south-north capacity is largely sufficient to make a positive business case for reverse flow investments in the Transitgas and TENP infrastructure. The main hurdle is uncertainty over timings, chief among which is the question how long it will take to arrive at a new regulator approved exit tariff for entering Switzerland from Italy. The time needed to resolve the timing uncertainty issue is an opportunity for Fluxys TENP to detail for the market participants the technically optimal scenario based on their expressions of interest.
[mappress] LNG World News Staff, April 30, 2013