Publications
Hungarian gas releasePublished: 1 of June, 2009

E.ON Földgáz Trade Zrt. hold its fourth yearly natural gas auction on 6 March 2009. The event is important because the natural gas sold transparently on the auction accounts for a significant proportion of the gas sold on the Hungarian free market. In our estimation, this proportion was nearly 30% in 2008, which equals 8.5% of the last year's total Hungarian natural gas consumption. DG Competition of the EU obliged E.ON to release gas as a remedy of the approval on 21 December 2005 of E.ON Ruhrgas International AG’s acquisition of MOL Földgázellátó Rt. (MOL Supply) and MOL Földgáztároló Rt. (MOL Storage) following an in-depth investigation.). Because of the fact that E.ON was a significant market player both in the Hungarian gas wholesale and storage markets and a significant actor on the electricity market, the Commission approved the merger but subject to several conditions. A key element of the conditions is the obligation of ownership unbundling of gas transmission (FGSZ owned by MOL) and the wholesale gas business units (E.ON Földgáz Trade). Our analysis focuses on recommendations to enhance liquidity.