Latvian gas utility to spin off gas distribution business

Latvijas Gaze AS

15/08/2017 10:48

RIGA, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Shareholders in Latvian gas utility 
Latvijas Gaze  GZE1R.RI   voted on Tuesday to separate its gas 
distribution business from gas sales to comply with European 
Union competition rules. 
    The move also follows Latvia's gas market liberalisation in 
April that will end the monopoly on supply in the country held 
for decades by Russian oil and gas giant Gazprom  GAZP.MM , the 
biggest shareholder in Latvijas Gaze. 
    Shareholders voted to spin off the natural gas distribution 
business, which will be called Gaso, from Latvijas Gaze by the 
end of this year. 
    "It's a gas supply system operator, so it (Gaso) will 
deliver gas to specific consumers over distribution networks," 
Aigars Kalvitis, Latvijas Gaze's chief executive told Reuters 
after the shareholders' meeting. 
    "At the moment we plan to found it (Gaso) at the end of 
November, so that we can put it (the company) to action in this 
year ... and it will begin to work fully from ... January," 
Kalvitis said.  
    Latvijas Gaze, currently a listed company, will become a 
holding company and retain its listing on the Latvian stock 
exchange, he said. 
    Late last year, Latvijas Gaze split off a natural gas 
transmission and storage operator, Conexus Baltic Grid, ahead of 
the market liberalisation in April.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1EH1NZ 
 
 (Reporting by Gederts Gelzis; editing by Nina Chestney and Jane 
Merriman) 
 ((Gederts.Gelzis@thomsonreuters.com;)) 
 
Keywords: LATVIJASGAZE GAS/