System operators
The national grid has been extensively developed since it first came into existence.
After first supplying the domestic market with gas from reserves that had been discovered, the network soon began to play another essential role in cross-border gas exports to Germany and Belgium as well as France, Switzerland and Italy.
With the discovery of offshore gas in the North Sea, not only on the Dutch Continental Shelf but also in Norway and later Denmark, the network has come to play an important role in making this gas available to the Dutch and European markets. GTS is also still involved in the small fields policy.
Liberalisation of the gas market means that the transmission network has continued to develop and there are now multiple connections with gas storage facilities, an interconnector with the United Kingdom and LNG terminals.
Europe is becoming increasingly dependent on external, non-European gas imports. LNG plays an important part in this. The European gas market is becoming part of the global gas market. Good interconnections with the UK (and other countries) and direct connections to LNG terminals means that the GTS network is well connected to the global gas market.
Over the years, GTS has developed many gas-transmission-related products and services; these promote gas trading and support connected system operators in offering services based on their installations. The GTS network has traditionally been well connected to European gas markets and being connected to its network via the TTF provides direct access to continental Europe’s most liquid gas market, for both the prompt and the forward market. The flexibility inherent in the gas transmission network made available to the market in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner is one of the reasons the TTF is so liquid and so attractive to traders.