Is well-functioning market enough to ensure energy security? This is just one of many questions, the answers to which are sought out by the participants of the debate organized by the “Forbes” and “Newsweek” magazines.
Over the last decade, major changes occurred on the Polish gas market – new pipelines were constructed, as well as the physical reverse on the Yamal pipeline and interconnections, moreover the new LNG terminal will be inaugurated in Świnoujście. This is no longer the market that was fully controlled, in which PGNiG (literally: Polish Petroleum and Gas Mining) had monopoly and the only supplier was Russian Gazprom. The ongoing liberalisation of the gas market brought about new challenges and also opportunities for PGNiG, the final recipient, as well as for the state, for whom energy security remains one of the priority tasks. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that one of the important questions posed by the participants in the debate focussed on the relationship between the market and said security.
The expansion of the infrastructure and market liberalisation caused many new players to appear, while PGNiG – the current monopolist – has lost its standing. The participants in the debate agreed that the state-owned company finds itself in a difficult position stemming from the fact that, on the one hand, it needs to adapt to the ongoing liberalisation and compete for customers with other actors, and on the other – it is obliged to maintain energy security, through, for instance, keeping stocks, and what is more – it is bound by long-term contracts.
This leads to a dilemma: to what degree the state should interfere in the the energy sector, and not only in the gas industry, but also in electric power and the mining sectors. Maciej Bukowski, the President of the Warsaw Energy Studies Institute, advocated for the low level of state interference. ‘The State does not act like an accomplished owner, who makes decisions quickly and instantly respond to the new market conditions. And such changes do occur nowadays, for instance in relation to the European Union aiming to increase competition’, argued Maciej Bukowski.
