The gas trading companies, which are 100%-owned byPGNiG, will receive contributions of physical and financial assetsrelated to the sales activities of the Trading Branches, which have sofar operated as organised parts of the enterprise in individual gasdistribution companies.

 
Thus, the share capitals of the individualgas trading companies will be increased by the value of contributedassets. This measure will enable legal unbundling of the sales activityfrom the technical gas distribution before 1 July 2007.

 
Theexisting gas companies – following to the unbundling of the assetsrelated to the sales activity – will be transformed into DistributionSystem Operators and will be responsible solely for the technical partof gas distribution.

 

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PGNiG is implementing legal unbundling of thesales activities from technical distribution of gas. This requirementis imposed by the EU Directive (2003/55/EC) and the amended Energy Law.
The changes are aimed at transforming the gas companies intodistribution system operators. As a result, retail gas sales andcustomer service throughout the country will be transferred from thegas companies to the gas trading companies.

 
The next step ofchanges in the organisational structure of PGNiG envisages integrationof the gas trading activities (wholesale and retail). Accordingly, inthe final stage of the structural and organisational transformation,the gas trading companies will be merged with PGNiG through theirincorporation.

 
Thereby, in addition to the production and storagebusiness, PGNiG will also be carry out all sales activities (includingboth wholesale and retail).

 
In order to implement this process,the Commercial Branch has been established in PGNiG where all criticalfunctions related to gas trading will be concentrated, includingmarketing, gas sales, customer service and commercial gas balancing, aswell as the related investments.

The choice of this organisational model forthe commercial and technical activities was made with a view toimprovement of the operating efficiency and strengthening of the marketof position of the PGNiG Group while preserving the essentialconditions of the energy security for the gas consumers.

 
Animportant part of the work on development of the business concept forthis project (legal unbundling of distribution system operators) isfocused on implementation of customer-friendly service procedures.
Inthe medium and long term, the transformation is also expected to resultin reduction of the costs of the trading activities, mitigate the riskfor PGNiG involved in the commercial activities, improve the financialliquidity and create additional opportunities for investments in thegas market development. Thus, the implementation of the tradingintegration project in PGNiG will lead to improvement of the company’svalue.