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Who we are
Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) is the European association representing the interests of natural gas infrastructure operators active in natural gas transmission, storage and LNG regasification. GIE is a regular interlocutor of the European institutions, regulatory bodies and industry stakeholders. It is based in Brussels, the heart of European policymaking.
GIE currently represents 70 member companies from 25 countries. Its internal structure has three columns corresponding to the three types of infrastructure activities represented, i.e. GTE (Gas Transmission Europe), GSE (Gas Storage Europe) and GLE (Gas LNG Europe), all of which fall under the umbrella of GIE. This structure allows member companies to speak with one voice on infrastructure topics as well as to build positions on column-specific issues.
The origin of GIE dates back to 2002. Since then the association has undergone some changes triggered by the evolving European legislative framework in energy. Following the adoption of the Third Energy Package in 2009, GTE laid down the foundations for a new body – the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) – which was formally established on 1 December 2009. The objective of ENTSOG is to deliver predominantly on the tasks as specified by the Third Energy Package and other specific gas transmission related issues, while GIE develops lobbying activities for all infrastructure operators in Europe, including TSOs.
What we do
Enabling a single European market
With its know-how and experience – and a close cooperation with its member companies – GIE contributes to develop the regulatory framework for natural gas in Europe in a transparent and proactive manner. GIE is a regular participant in energy policy debates shaping the future gas market including, for example, the European Gas Regulatory Forum (Madrid Forum).
Among GIE's main objectives is regulatory stability and predictability; the essential prerequisites for a sound investment climate. GIE assists also its members in complying with the existing European legislation with a view to foster harmonised and consistent implementations.
Moreover, GIE undertakes many market-oriented initiatives, in particular relating to transparency. As regards gas storage, the flagship transparency deliverables are the GSE Aggregated Gas Stock Inventory (AGSI) – an online platform providing daily information on gas stock movements – as well as the GSE Investment Database.
Transparency is also key for GLE which, not only also publishes a LNG investment database, but which is currently focussing on developing a standardised template to facilitate access to information for LNG terminal users. Moreover, both GSE and GLE publish a yearly update of their respective storage and LNG maps.
As one of the most important stakeholders in the European arena, GIE cooperates on a regular basis with other industry associations and bodies. In particular, GIE cooperates closely with ENTSOG in developing several of the tasks assigned under the Third Energy Package, including the Ten Year Network Development Plan as well as Summer and Winter Supply Outlooks.
Ensuring a backbone for secure supplies
Gas infrastructure is the indispensible backbone of the energy supply chain from producer to end-user. Transmission pipelines, storage facilities and LNG regasification terminals are among the physical elements of the gas system which ensure that gas is delivered to customers where and whenever needed.
Gas infrastructure will need to be further developed and enhanced in the years to come. This will help to safeguard secure supplies and to respond to new and growing flexibility requirements. This is why GIE is following closely the implementation of the 2010 regulation on security of supply and is involved in the ongoing discussions concerning the European energy infrastructure priorities.
As a regular contributor to the debates concerning security of supply and infrastructure as well as related investments, GIE stands ready to provide expertise and guidance on how best to achieve the European policy objectives while ensuring a market-based approach and a sound investment climate. We are convinced that a well interconnected and enhanced flexible gas infrastructure network in Europe is key for enhanced supply security. It is therefore necessary to ensure the right conditions for the market to respond to the existing and new infrastructure needs
Contributing to a competitive low-carbon European Union
Natural gas has proven to be the cleanest fossil fuel. Gas utilisation can therefore reduce CO2 emissions and contribute to the "20-20-20" policy objectives of the EU. As the past decade has shown, the increased share of natural gas in the European energy mix has led to a significant CO2 reduction in Europe.
The role of natural gas and its underlying infrastructure in achieving the environmental objectives will be further strengthened as economies move towards "green energy" sources. Apart from its environmentally-friendly character, natural gas is also an ideal partner of renewable energy as it ensures the flexibility needed to compensate for the intermittency of solar or wind energy production. This flexibility will thus guarantee secure energy flows to consumers. However, it will also require a welldeveloped and meshed infrastructure network capable of responding to strong demand variability and integrating green energy.
The aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear incident in Japan as well as the possible impact of future shale gas production on diversification of supply and prices, make natural gas the European energy of choice in the decades to come. Therefore, it should no longer be regarded as a mere bridge towards a low-carbon economy, but rather as a destination fuel and the most economically viable enabler for renewable energy. The increasing importance of natural gas will require continuous development and enhancement of gas infrastructure to be able to respond to increasing flexibility needs. In this context, the role of gas infrastructure operators and their contribution to policymaking at European level is of paramount importance.
Building the EU Energy future
Competition, security of supply and sustainability coupled with ever more stringent environmental targets constitute today the main lines of the EU's energy policy. The natural gas industry, and in particular infrastructure operators, adhere to the European energy objectives and continuously pursue technologically advanced solutions to achieve energy policy goals with the highest safety and efficiency. One such solution is the application of the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology to gas-fired power plants, which allows a near elimination of CO2 emissions. The recent development of biogas proves that renewable energy sources can be integrated into the existing gas infrastructure. Other examples include the development of small scale LNG, L-CNG and CNG for vehicles as well as new state-of-the-art technologies which compensate for the variable character of renewable energy sources, such as, for instance, Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES), which allows storing electricity in underground formations. As gas is the most efficient energy carrier, the production of synthetic gas from electricity ("power-to-gas") is also a very promising technology allowing for efficient energy storage and transport based on existing gas infrastructure.
The new developing objectives and goals for the European energy sector are both a challenge and an opportunity that gas infrastructure operators are eager to take. Building on their experience and know-how, gas infrastructure operators are best placed to make significant contributions to the EU energy future.
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