ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland will waive anti-trust rules to allow gas companies to coordinate to find new supply and storage capacity to help the country cope with uncertainties caused by Russian hostilities in Ukraine, the government said on Friday.
Gas prices have hit record highs in Europe on fears of supply disruption from Russia, which supplies about 40% of Europe’s gas.
“The war shows how reliant Europe is on Russian gas,” Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga told a news conference, saying Switzerland was too reliant on energy imports. “We therefore must strengthen our own energy production.”
Gas accounts for some 15% of Switzerland’s energy use, Sommaruga said, roughly half of which is from Russia.
“As the corresponding procurements can only be made jointly by the gas companies due to their size, agreements are necessary within the industry… (so) the Federal Council decided that the industry can already make the procurements jointly without having to fear anti-trust consequences at a later date,” the government said.
It also said its energy supply was secure for this winter but faced “residual risk” in the event of further major unplanned power plant outages, a prolonged cold spell, or should the supply of Russian gas to Europe stop.
It is working to secure supplies for the 2022/23 winter and tasked the Swiss gas industry with procuring new sources of gas and terminal capacities, as well as storage capacities abroad.
Switzerland doesn’t have an underground gas storage facility, but one of its four regional gas companies, Gaznat, owns a stake in France’s Etrez site.
The regional natural gas supply companies — Gaznat S.A., Erdgas Zentralschweiz AG, Gasverbund Mittelland AG and Erdgas Ostschweiz AG — transport natural gas to local suppliers and direct customers in their respective regions.
Switzerland is planning new hydropower reserves and back-up power plants after officials warned the country would be without power for nearly two days in a worst-case scenario.
The government plans to bolster its power network as it moves to more renewable and hydropower while phasing out nuclear energy.
(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi. Editing by Jane Merriman)
