London, 6 May 2010

The members of the EFET Board have welcomed the establishment of a new group, specifically designed to address the development of gas markets in the Central and Eastern European countries. This new group has been called EFET Task Force Central and Eastern Europe Gas (TF CEEG). The new task force is led by Radim Fiala, who is Head of Gas Trading at the Czech company Lumius, and works closely with the EFET Gas Committee. The network of EFET members who are trading in the region already includes about twenty companies who are active in the gas market.

The first TF CEEG meeting took place in Vienna on 21st April and – despite the air travel disruptions that occurred that week - a dozen members participated.

“The establishment of this new EFET group has been highly welcomed by the market participants active in this region” commented the TF CEEG Chairman Radim Fiala. “This part of Europe has an interesting market potential, although with different levels of market openness. Companies have always worked independently so far; now the time has come to join forces and collaborate to reduce or remove the significant barriers to energy trading.”

The main aim, as determined by the members of TF CEEG, is to contribute to the development of liquid and transparent wholesale gas markets, by removing or reducing the current obstacles to energy trading in the CEE region and, consequently, facilitating energy trading throughout the whole of Europe.

With this objective in mind, the TF CEEG will be participating in the dialogue with the key energy market operators and regulators in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. The task force members agreed that their priority work would concentrate on capacity and market development issues – at first in Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia. The TF CEEG also plans to expand its activities to other key countries for the EU gas market, like Poland and Romania, as gas trading continues to spread across the region.

The first focus of attention for the new TF CEEG was the new regulation concerning grid access and booking of gas capacity in Hungary, regarding which a letter was sent to HEO2. The TF members have also commented on the recently released ERGEG3 GRI Work Programme 2010-2011 for the region of South and South-East Europe.

The next meeting is scheduled to take place in Warsaw during the second week of June in combination with the conference Energy Trading Central and South East Europe 2010.

Ends --