Other commitments and risks
The other unevaluated commitments and risks are:
Commitments arising from the contract for the acquisition of Italgas and Stogit from Eni
The price determined for the acquisition of Italgas and Stogit is subject to adjustment mechanisms based on commitments made when the transaction was completed, which were also intended to apply after the date of execution.
Acquisition of Italgas
As at 31 December 2013, the remaining commitments from the aforementioned agreements concerned adjusting the Italgas purchase price to take into account part of the costs/benefits from the sale of property owned by Italgas that is no longer part of its operations.
Acquisition of Stogit
The Stogit acquisition price may be adjusted to take into account the different amount that might be recognised by the Electricity and Gas Authority for the tariff period 1 January 2015 - 31 December 2018 relating to the volumes of natural gas owned by Stogit on the share transfer date and which are part of RAB assets.
The agreement also provides for hedging mechanisms to ensure that Eni continues to bear the risks and/or benefits from any sale of natural gas that is no longer required for the functioning of the storage system; any sale of storage capacity that may become freely available on a negotiable rather than regulated basis; or the transfer of concessions held by Stogit at the time of the share transfer that may become dedicated mainly to storage activities which are no longer regulated.
Emission Trading
The greenhouse gas emission authorisation system, which was previously regulated by Legislative Decree 216/2006, was updated and amended by Legislative Decree 30 of 13 March 2013, effective from 5 April 2013, concurrent with the end of the second regulatory period (2008-2013) and the start of the third regulatory period (2013-2020).
The main aim of Legislative Decree 30 of 13 March 2013 was to update laws on greenhouse gas emission authorisations and to continually reduce free emission allowances. The allocation of free greenhouse gas emission allowances for 2013-2020 is regulated by Article 10-bis of Directive 2009/29/EC, which was approved through Decision 2011/278/EC. The allowances allocated to each plant, which under the new rules will be gradually smaller and not constant like in the previous period, are listed in Resolution 29/2013, which was approved on 20 December 2013 by the “National committee for the management of Directive 2003/87/EC and for support in the management of Kyoto Protocol projects”.
The Snam Group expects to be allocated a total of approximately 3.76 million tonnes of CO2 in the third regulatory period, of which 2.57 million tonnes is for Snam Rete Gas, 0.25 million tonnes for GNL Italia and 0.94 million tonnes for Stogit. The amount allocated in the final year of the period is expected to be around 70% less than the first year’s allowance.
The most significant changes introduced by Article 25 of Legislative Decree 30 of 13 March 2013 include the introduction of the principle of partial asset transfers: this means that the allocation of free emission allowances will depend on the actual level of plant operation; this is supplementary to the previous legislation’s free emission allowance allocation criterion based on installed capacity (i.e. the number of machines installed).
In 2013, the carbon dioxide emissions from Snam Group facilities were, overall, lower than the emission permits allocated. Some 0.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide were emitted into the atmosphere, whereas about 0.7 million tonnes had been allocated in emission permits, including permits for new plants. This meant a surplus of 0.2 million tonnes.