LONDON (Dow Jones)--E.ON Gastransport & Co. KG and bayernets GmbH are setting up a joint market area for high-calorific gas (H-gas) as from 1 October 2008.
As a result of this cooperation, there will be a nationwide market area reaching from the North Sea coast to the Alps, with over 50 % of the H-gas transported in Germany passing through this pipeline system.
"With this cooperation our companies are making an important contribution to the further simplification of network access sought by the Federal Network Agency," said Henning R. Deters, Chairman of the Management Board of E.ON Gastransport. "Gas trading at the EEX exchange will increase further as a result of the large volumes of gas transported through this extensive market area."
To implement their cooperation in this market area, bayernets and E.ON Gastransport are setting up a company based in Düsseldorf. Its fields of activity - balancing account management, provision and operation of a virtual trading point and introduction of a web-based market area information platform - constitute innovative services geared to practical requirements. bayernets will hold 25.1 % of the shares in the new company, and E.ON Gastransport 74.9 %. Its establishment is subject to merger control approval by the relevant anti-trust authorities.
E.ON Gastransport is a unit of E.ON Ruhrgas, the gas business of German utility E.ON AG (EOA.XE).