GRTgaz

Fancied French bidder GRTgaz facing DESFA tender exit

Posted on by admin

France’s GRTgaz and Romania’s Transgas, which joined forces to submit a bid in a renewed international tender offering a 66 percent stake of DESFA, Greece’s natural gas grid operator, are likely to be eliminated from the sale procedure today by its organizer, TAIPED, the state privatization fund, as GRTgaz, which possesses ITO certification, does not fulfil ownership unbundling (OU) certification requirements, legal sources have informed energypress.

Ideally, TAIPED would prefer to give the GRTgaz-Transgas consortium the green light leading to the tender’s second round so as to maintain the sale procedure’s competitiveness among rival bidders at a high level.

A bidding team comprised of Italy’s Snam, Spain’s Enagas, Belgium’s Fluxys and Dutch operator Gasunie, rates as the favorite, while GRTgaz-Transgas have been regarded as the main challenger.

Snam, Enagas and Fluxys all hold stakes in the TAP consortium developing the TAP gas pipeline.

Should a solution be found that would enable GRTgaz-Transgas to make it through to the second round, other ousted bidders could legally challenge such a development.

GRTgaz’s participation in the DESFA tender was among the issues discussed by French President Emmanuel Macron during his official two-day visit to Athens last week.

Besides the confusion surrounding GRTgaz, the DESFA tender also needs to overcome a tariff-related lack of clarity. Prospective investors have demanded clear-cut tariff terms as this would make clearer the operator’s earning potential.

These issues threaten to delay the tender by at least three months, at best, meaning the government’s objective of declaring a preferred bidder within 2017 could be missed.

The DESFA tender’s other first-round bidders are: Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (Europe) Limited; Spain’s Regasificadora del Noroeste; Canada’s Integrated Utility Services Inc; and Qatar’s Powerglobe LLC.

 

 

DESFA tender bidders to be shortlisted next week

Posted on by admin

First-round bidders taking part in a renewed international tender offering 66 percent of DESFA, Greece’s natural gas grid operator, are expected to be shortlisted next week, once TAIPED, the state privatization fund, has received specialized advice from the procedure’s consultants.

Qualifiers will advance to the competition’s next round. A total of six teams submitted first-round bids early this month, including one comprised of Italy’s Snam, Spain’s Enagas, Belgium’s Fluxys and Dutch operator Gasunie, regarded as the favorite.

Snam, Enagas and Fluxys all hold stakes in the TAP consortium developing the TAP gas pipeline, to run across northern Greece, through Albania and the Adriatic Sea to Italy.

The emergence of this TAP-related entry for the DESFA sale certainly adds clout and bidding potential to the sale procedure.

France’s GRTgaz and Romania’s Transgas also joined forces as one of the other bidding teams. This formation should not be underestimated as GRTgaz stands one of the EU’s biggest energy sector firms operating the most extensive network of gas pipelines.

Questions regarding eligibility have emerged for members of three of the six bidding teams – Qatar’s Powerglobe, US firm Intergrated Utility Services, and Australia’s Macquarie Infrastructure.

A subsidiary of the Australian company maintains interests in an Italian network company. This could help Macquarie Infrastructure overcome EU-related restrictions.

The tender, according to its terms, is open to European operators as well as non-EU firms taking part as members of consortiums headed by European operators.

 

 

Major players meet DESFA sale’s first-round deadline

Posted on by admin

Local energy market authorities have declared as a success the turnout of virtually all the major European operators for a renewed international tender offering 66 percent of DESFA, Greece’s natural gas grid operator.

Though still at a preliminary stage, the sale procedure, whose deadline for first-round non-binding offers expired yesterday, has drawn two formidable consortiums that appear prepared to make serious bids for the DESFA majority stake on offer.

One of these fancied teams is made up of Italy’s Snam, Spain’s Enagas, Belgium’s Fluxys and Dutch operator Gasunie and the other Romania’s Transgas and France’s GRTgaz.

The first of these two bidding teams appears to be the firm favorite as three of its members also hold stakes in the TAP consortium developing the TAP gas pipeline, to run across northern Greece, through Albania and the Adriatic Sea to Italy. The emergence of the TAP-related entry for the DESFA sale certainly adds clout and bidding potential to the sale procedure.

The second major bidding team should not be underestimated. France’s GRTgaz stands one of the EU’s biggest energy sector firms operating the most extensive network of gas pipelines.

Regasificadora del Noroeste S.A, a second Spanish firm that met yesterday’s deadline, can be regarded as an outsider. It operates a pipeline network in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia.

Questions linger over the prospects of other tender participants such as Qatar’s Powerglobe, US firm Intergrated Utility Services and Australian entry Macquarie Infrastructure, a non-EU group taking part as one of its subsidiaries is linked to an Italian network operator.