The paper analyses the effects of Nord Stream 2 on the wholesale natural gas prices of European countries and the European gas market competition. We also assess the effect of this new infrastructure on the planned PCI projects of Central and Eastern Europe. The results show that expanding Nord Stream causes a crowding-out effect on the capacities allowing access to Western European gas markets, due to the change in delivery point of the long term contracts. This inhibits market integration of Western and Eastern Europe, resulting in a higher price difference between this two regions. Total welfare effects of the expansion are negative, majority of welfare losses are borne by Central-Eastern European consumers and TSOs. The study points out that re-routing of the long-term contracts may induce congestion on the West-to-East interconnectors, causing an additional one billion euro investment need to alleviate these bottlenecks.
Publications / Research papers
The Impact Of The Construction Of The Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipeline On Gas Prices And CompetitionCompetition and Regulation 2016 - books, chaptersPublished: 24 of February, 2017
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