BBL Company is a joint venture (a limited partnership) of three
partners:
- Gasunie BBL B.V. (60%)
- E.ON Ruhrgas BBL B.V. (20%)
- Fluxys BBL B.V. (20%)
BBL Company was established on 9 July 2004 in order to design, construct, operate and exploit the BBL pipeline for the transmission of natural gas from Balgzand in the Netherlands to Bacton in the United Kingdom. The approval of the project by partners was based on three long term transmission agreements with GasTerra (the Netherlands), E.ON Ruhrgas (Germany) and Wingas (Germany) for transport of gas from Balgzand to Bacton. After a construction period of just two years transport of gas to the UK started on 1 December 2006.
Regulatory arrangements in place for expansion BBL
On Monday 16th June 2008 BBL Company received approval from
Ofgem of the charging methodology with regard to the extra transmission
capacity created by the expansion of the BBL pipeline by installing
a fourth compressor in the Netherlands.
The approval by Ofgem was based on the approval of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and on a formal market consultation by Ofgem. BBL Company has informed shippers who booked capacity during the Open Season late 2007 that the relevant condition precedent has been satisfied.
Expansion of the BBL is now only dependent on expansion of the Dutch grid, which is expected to be decided upon by Gas Transport Services at the end of June 2008.
