German natural gas importer and pipeline operator Wingas GmbH said Wednesday it will take the country's network regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, to court in a dispute over regulation of gas transmission grids.
Wingas, a 50-50 joint venture between BASF SE's (BAS.XE) Wintershall AG and OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS), will file a legal complaint against the regulator to the regional court in Duesseldorf Thursday, Ingo Neubert, head of the company's grid unit Wingas Transport, told Dow Jones newsletter Energy Daily in an interview.
The Bundesnetzagentur last months decided gas transmission grids should in future be regulated, citing a lack of competition.
So far the gas transmission grids haven't been regulated businesses.
"We regard the Bundesnetzagentur's decision that there's no competition at all between the German transmission grid and European pipelines as incomprehensible," said Neubert.
Wingas and the remaining nine gas transmission operators, including units of E.ON AG (EOAN.XE) and the Dutch firm Nederlandse Gasunie NV, will be included in the coming incentive-based regulation regime from 2010, under which the most cost-efficient grid operator will set the benchmark for the remaining competitors.
Together the grids of Wingas, E.ON and Gasunie account for about 66% of German gas transmission capacity.