On 20 March 2013, the Energy Charter Secretariat and the Ministry of National Development of Hungary held a joint Workshop on Contractual Issues Related to Energy Trade. The event gathered around sixty decision-makers from industry and governments from energy exporting, importing and transit countries to discuss the impact of recent developments in natural gas trade and regulatory measures on long-term natural gas contracts and gas trading hubs.
The workshop was opened by Dr. Urban Rusnák, the Secretary General of the Energy Charter, and Amb. Anita Orbán, Ambassador at Large for Energy Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. The subsequent discussion confirmed the important role of long-term natural gas contracts for energy security, in particular in view of the signals they provide for strategic investments. At the same time, it was noted that trading hubs may as well provide adequate signals to markets, if they are sufficiently deep and not capable of being manipulated.
The discussion demonstrated the regional specificities of gas markets, indicating a need for regulation to be based on a careful analysis of such specificities as well as the expected long-term impact of considered regulatory measures.
Participants appreciated the role of the Energy Charter in providing a forum for an in-depth discussion of this highly topical issue as well as the hospitality of the Hungarian hosts.