PGNiG sitting pretty with fuel storage monopoly

The company controls 95% of the fuel storage market and with the act's support it will be able to control the degree of its competition's development. The law demands natural gas importers moving more than 50 million cubic meters annually or handling more than 100,000 clients maintain fuel reserves of at least 30-days on average. The catch is, the only company that owns storage warehouses is PGNiG. Emfesz, a Hungarian supplier of natural gas, asked the European Commission to look into this issue. "We have not yet appealed to the EC, but we consider such move," said Anna Ciura of Media Odra Warta. The act on fuel deposits in already in power, while PGNiG is only just expanding its warehouses to 2.85 billion cubic meters. "By 2012 we will be fully prepared to operate in line with the act. Currently storage space is hardly meeting our needs," said Tomasz Fill, spokesman of PGNiG. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 4-5) M.M.