Czech company Great North Canadian Holdings SE (GNCH) has concluded a long-term contract with Norwegian parastatal Equinor for the supply of natural gas from the Norwegian continental shelf. The deliveries are to start in May and will be primarily intended for wholesale customers and gas traders, GNCH announced yesterday. According to the company, it will be the only domestic company to have a direct contract with Equinor so far. It did not disclose its financial terms.
According to the company, the contract should ensure stable multi-year direct supplies of Norwegian natural gas to the Czech Republic. “We are glad that we managed to bring the difficult negotiations, which took several months, to a successful conclusion. The long-term contract is an important strategic insurance at a time when Europe is still looking for ways to permanently reduce its dependence on Russia,” said Mikuláš Klang, a member of the board of directors and spokesman for GNCH.
GNCH wants to focus primarily on wholesale customers from a number of industries or the heating sector and on gas traders. “These can be individual companies as well as groups that had to look for reliable alternative sources of natural gas after the market turmoil last year,” Klang said. So it will not supply gas to households.
In February, Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikel (STAN) announced that gas imports from Russia to the Czech Republic fell to zero during January. The state replaced Russian gas with gas imports from Norway and LNG from the Netherlands and Belgium. Savings in consumption have also helped to reduce dependence on Russia.
GNCH SE was founded in 2017. It focuses on gas trading, but has not been active so far. The sole shareholder is the Canadian company Great Northern Canadian Holdings Inc. It was recently registered in the OTE central system as a new gas clearing entity.
Equinor ASA is an international energy company with operations in approximately 30 countries. The Norwegian State holds a 67 % stake in it. Its portfolio includes oil and gas, renewables and low-carbon solutions. The company is a leading operator on the Norwegian continental shelf.
Source: GNCH and CTK
