Press release

Groningen, 20 July 2022 - Gasunie’s revenue over the first half of 2022 came in at € 897 million, up 25% on the same period last year. Revenue rose as changing gas flows in Europe due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine brought a spike in demand for capacity at Gasunie Transport Services (GTS) and Gasunie Deutschland (GUD). At a later stage, network operators will return this additional revenue to the market, as per the current regulations. Furthermore, the regulatory authorities allowed GTS and GUD to charge higher transport tariffs than in the previous year. Changing gas flows also led to Gasunie subsidiary BBL Company seeing its income rise. Gasunie’s operating result was up 3% to € 474 million. Rising energy prices have pushed up the costs of quality conversion and gas transport significantly. Increased material procurement costs are also reflected in the operating result.

Gasunie CEO Han Fennema: “On 24 February 2022, the European gas market entered a new era. The invasion of Ukraine led to EU member states taking the historic step to wind down dependence on Russian natural gas as quickly as possible. When it comes to Gasunie, the phase-out of Russian gas means a reversal of international gas flows, which are now increasingly running from west to east and from south to north across Europe.”
“We are well aware that citizens and companies suffer from high market prices for natural gas. We have worked hard in recent months on securing alternatives to Russian gas. As early as by the end of this calendar year, the Netherlands’ LNG import capacity will double. We will thus be the biggest contributor to the ramping up of Europe’s LNG import capacity through new infrastructure”, Fennema says. In Germany, which does not yet have any LNG terminals, the company is in the process of preparing grid connections for new third-party LNG terminals. Gasunie is also developing a permanent LNG terminal in northern Germany.

Gasunie CFO Janneke Hermes: “The advancing reversal of international gas flows will also have an impact on Gasunie’s future income. Over the coming years, we expect to generate more income from facilitating LNG imports. Due to the heightened risk profile of Nord Stream’s sole customer, Gazprom, income from our 9% stake in Nord Stream, i.e. the pipeline transporting Russian gas to Germany, has been thrown into uncertainty. As of July 2022, we will, therefore, measure our interest in Nord Stream at € 240 million, which boils down to a € 268 million drop on year-end 2021.” This change in fair value does not affect the profit and loss account, as it is taken directly to Gasunie’s equity.

Gasunie transported 573 TWh of natural gas in the first half of 2022, which is 3% less than in the same period last year. In the Netherlands, GTS transported 15% less natural gas. Industries, power stations, and regional transmission system operators all consumed less gas due to the considerably higher gas prices and the hotter-than-normal weather. Transport volumes to gas storage facilities and to Germany, however, were actually up. In Germany, GUD transported 38% more natural gas, especially due to increased import flows from Norway. GTS’s and GUD’s respective income is not determined by how much natural gas they transport, but rather by the regulatory authorities, and depends on the amount of transport capacity they sell to the market.