The 31st edition of the
Madrid Forum took place from 16-17 October and was attended by Rudy Van Beurden and Peter Meeuwis. The two-days meeting can be summarised in five points:
1. Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs & Climate gave an update on the Groningen situation explaining the plans for production, conversion and climate policy.
2.The role of gas will vary from a decreasing role due to strong electrification, to a stable or increasing role thanks to sustainable (biogas, synthetic methane) and non-carbon (hydrogen or CCS) produced gases.
3. Impact of the "new" gases:
a. Who does what: the same as the discussion we had in the Netherlands regarding the law VET (Acceleration of Energy Transition)
b. What is possible: gas qualities must take into account the different requirements of different users (see CEN/Marcogaz presentation for more info)
c. Policy: GOs (Guarantees of Origin) must be expanded: target for green gas
d. Less risk on stranded assets in the transmission grid
4.The gas demand influences the transport tariffs. Keep rates low because of market integration
5. Implementation of the Network Codes is going well, but it could be better in Eastern Europe (see the presentation of the Energy Community). Attention was paid to VIPs (Virtual Interconnection Points). The Dutch issues on VIPs are going to be used as an example in the next Madrid Forum.
The agenda and other documents of the Madrid Forum (interventions, discussions papers, etc) are available
here