Since its debut on two weeks ago, only one symbolic transaction was made on Warsaw's new gas market, reports Wyborcza.biz. The beginning looked quite optimistic – on opening day December 20, people crowded the premises of the market operating as a part of the Polish Power Exchange (Towarowa Giełda Energii).

“This is a turning point in Polish history,” Treasury Minister Mikołaj Budzanowski said at the time. Marek Woszczyk, head of the Energy Regulation Office (URE) added that the market will dictate the price of gas better than any agency administrator. The first and only deal made on the gas market was the purchase of 3 million cubic meters of gas by energy provider Duon from Polskie Górnictwe Naftowe i Gazownictwo (PGNiG).

PGNiG declared that it plans to sell 100 million cubic meters, or a mere 1 percent of its annual sales on the market. Many companies interested find that the price on the market is minimally lower that standard PGNiG tariffs, so why bother? Beginnings are always difficult, said PGNiG spokesperson Joanna Zakrzewska and added that trade of electric power on the PPE was also slow right after its debut.

Poland A.M.