Revenue increased by € 872 million on the same period last year. This increase can mainly be attributed to a change in the gas flows: where, in recent years, the gas mainly flowed from Russia to Western Europe, we saw a shift in 2022, with the gas now largely flowing from Western Europe. This resulted in higher capacity sales (approximately € 350 million) and higher revenue from capacity auctions (approximately € 200 million) at Gasunie Transport Services and Gasunie Deutschland. Furthermore, as a result of the regulatory methodology applied, the tariffs also rose, adding another approximately € 100 million to the total revenue. The change in the gas flows has also resulted in more capacity being reserved for transport from the UK to Western Europe, which led to higher revenue at BBL. To increase security of supply in Europe, Gasunie has opened a new LNG facility at the port of Eemshaven; this, too, has generated additional revenue.

The reported operating result is € 729 million, an increase of € 314 million compared to last year. This figure includes an impairment of the assets of Gasunie Deutschland following the publication of new resolutions relevant to the determination of Gasunie Deutschland’s future revenues in the 2023-2027 regulatory period (€ 109 million) and the assets of BBL following a change in the long-term assumptions with regard to natural gas demand in the UK and the resulting need for transport capacity between the UK and Europe (€ 50 million). When normalised for this the operating result is € 888 million. There are a number of other factors that also have an impact on the operating result. Firstly, there are the personnel costs, which have increased mainly due to the need for more staff to carry out the energy transition activities. We also formed a provision of approximately € 50 million for the removal of decommissioned sections of pipeline. The energy costs associated with gas transmission and transport and gas quality conversion (low-to-high and high-to-low calorific gas) also play a major role in the development of the operating result. These costs rose by about € 300 million compared to 2021, mainly due to the higher energy prices. Under the current regulatory methodology that applies in the Netherlands, Gasunie Transport Services may not offset these higher energy costs in future tariffs, unlike in Germany, where we are allowed to do so. In the underlying result, we have deducted the offset energy costs from the reported result.

The balance of the financial income and expenses decreased by € 14 million compared to 2021, mainly due to the foreign exchange results. The result of participating interests was down € 28 million, mainly as the result of having received no dividend from Nord Stream this reporting year. After the invasion of Ukraine, Gasunie largely suspended its Nord Stream activities. On 26 September 2022, both Nord Stream transport pipelines were seriously damaged by a number of explosions, with the result that they could no longer be used to transport gas. Based on a risk assessment, including our expectations regarding future dividends, we have decided to set the value of our interest in Nord Stream at year-end 2022 at € zero (year-end 2021: € 508.1 million). This value adjustment comes in the form of a direct balance sheet change and does not affect the result.

The increase in investment cash flow is mainly due to the investments in the LNG terminal at the port of Eemshaven and in energy transition projects, like WarmtelinQ (heat grid in Zuid-Holland) and Porthos (CCS). The cash flow from investment activities also concerns regular and current projects, such as the nitrogen plant in Zuidbroek.

Gasunie Transport Services has lodged an appeal against the current methodology decision. The future financial outlook depends on the outcome of this appeal. If Gasunie Transport Services’ appeal regarding offsetting its own energy costs in future tariffs fails, we expect Gasunie’s profit to decline in the coming years given that, unlike the own energy costs, a large part of the additional revenue achieved in 2022 will be offset in the tariffs over the coming years.