In line with the current provisions of the Act of 16 February 2007 on stocks of oil, petroleum products and natural gas and the principles of proceeding in situations of threat to the state's fuel security and disturbances on the oil market (“the Act”)¹  , energy entities involved in trading natural gas with foreign countries, as well as those importing natural gas for their own needs, are obligated to maintain mandatory stocks. Importantly, these stocks must not be put to commercial use.

As a result, operational costs in natural gas trading constitutes a significant barrier negatively impacting the competitiveness of Poland's natural gas market.

The European Commission has indicated that Poland's mandatory stockholding provisions are not aligned with the EU regulation on security of gas supply² . In the European Commission's opinion, Poland is placing an extra burden on market participants that store gas outside of Poland, which poses a risk of distorting competition, disrupting the functioning of the internal market, and threatening the security of natural gas supplies.

Therefore, the Ministry of Industry has prepared an amendment to the Act (“the Amendment”). It was initially scheduled to enter into force on 1 November 2024, with the exception of some provisions which were set to take effect on 1 October 2025. Although the legislative process has currently stalled at the European Affairs Committee stage, the Amendment is expected to be adopted in the coming months.

Replacing stockholding obligations with a Gas Fee

The Amendment proposes replacing the current requirement for energy entities to maintain mandatory stocks with a monthly “gas fee,” which would be paid to the Natural Gas Intervention Stocks and Strategic Stocks Fund. The gas fees will be used by the Government Strategic Reserve Agency to purchase natural gas for the creation and maintenance of strategic reserves. The agency will acquire gas through a commodity exchange, or a market organized by a regulated market operator, or an organized trading platform.

The amount of the gas fee will be calculated as the product of the gas fee rate set forth in the regulation of the competent minister and the quantity of high-methane natural gas off-taken in a given month by the obliged entity (see below for definition).

Furthermore, the proposed Article 25d (4) of the Act states that the gas fee shall not exceed the maximum rate indicated therein, which is PLN 100.00/MWh.

Expanding the list of obligated entities

In addition, the Amendment proposes to expand the group of entities that will be required to participate in the costs of maintaining mandatory stocks. Under the current legislation, these costs have been borne by energy companies involved in natural gas trade with foreign countries, as well as those importing natural gas for their own needs, by requiring them to maintain mandatory stocks. Under the proposed changes, the storage obligation will be replaced, as indicated above, by a gas fee and new obligated parties will include companies categorized as operators, i.e. Transmission System Operator, Distribution System Operators, Storage System Operators, Combined Systems Operators and LNG Operators, to the extent that they use gas for their own consumption and the energy companies contracting the gas transmission service.

Conclusion

The Amendment aims to ensure that national regulations align with the EU legislation. Additionally, it will increase competitiveness in Poland's gas market, where the initial costs related to mandatory gas stock obligations for energy companies have constituted a significant barrier for entities trying to enter the market.

Furthermore, expanding the list of obligated entities will lead to a more equitable distribution of the costs associated with maintaining mandatory stocks. By setting a maximum rate for the gas fee, these entities will have increased certainty regarding the expenses they will face under the requirements of the Act.

1. UC 50.
2. Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2017 concerning measures to safeguard the security of gas supply and repealing Regulation (EU) No 994/2010.