The owner of the facility must take into account any representations received about the proposed conditions or changes before publishing them, or a modified version of them, as final conditions or changes under subsection (1).

In subsection (1) “year” means any year ending with 9th August.

Any person who seeks a right to have gas processed F14for a downstream purpose by a gas processing facility (“the applicant”) shall, before making an application to F10the Authority under subsection (1F), apply to the owner of the facility for the right.

An application under subsection (1B) shall be made by giving notice in writing to the owner specifying what is being sought.

Where a person gives notice under subsection (1C), he and the owner of the gas processing facility shall negotiate in good faith and endeavour to reach agreement on the application.

If the owner and the applicant do not reach any such agreement, the applicant may apply to F10the Authority for directions under this section which would secure to the applicant the right specified in the notice under subsection (1C).

F10the Authority shall not entertain such an application unless F17it is satisfied that the parties have had a reasonable time in which to fulfil their duties under subsection (1E).

For the purposes of this section, gas is processed for “a downstream purpose” if it is processed with a view to its being put into a gas storage facility, an LNG import or export facility, a gas interconnector or a distribution system pipeline.

In this section—

• F20“authorised transporter” has the same meaning as in Part 1 of the 1986 Act;

• F20“distribution system operator” has the meaning given by Article 2(6) of Directive 2009/73/ EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas and repealing Directive 2003/55/ EC;

• F20“distribution system pipeline” means a pipeline operated by an authorised transporter who is a distribution system operator;

• “gas” means any substance which is or (if it were in a gaseous state) would be gas within the meaning of Part I of the 1986 Act;

• F20“gas interconnector” has the same meaning as in Part 1 of the 1986 Act;

• “gas processing facility” means any facility which F19 —

  1. (a)

     carries out gas processing operations;

  2. (b)

     is operated otherwise than by a gas transporter; and

  3. (c)

     is not an LNG import or export facility;

• “gas processing operation” means any of the following operations, namely—

  1. a

     purifying, blending, odorising or compressing gas for the purpose of enabling it to be introduced into a pipe-line system operated by a public gas transporter or to be conveyed to an electricity generating station, a gas storage facility or any place outside Great Britain;

  2. b

     removing from gas for that purpose any of its constituent gases, or separating from gas for that purpose any oil or water; F7...

  3. c

     determining the quantity or quality of gas which is or is to be so introduced, or so conveyed, whether generally or by or on behalf of a particular person,

  4. d

     F8separating, purifying, blending, odorising or compressing gas, for the purpose of—

     1. (i)

        converting it into a form in which a purchaser is willing to accept delivery from a seller, or

     2. (ii)

        enabling it to be loaded for conveyance to another place (whether inside or outside Great Britain); and

  5. e

     loading gas—

     1. (i)

        at a facility which carries out operations of a kind mentioned in paragraph (d), or

     2. (ii)

        piped from such a facility, and

     for the purpose of enabling the gas to be conveyed to another place (whether inside or outside Great Britain);

  and “process”, in relation to gas, shall be construed accordingly;

• F20“gas storage facility” means a facility in Great Britain (including the territorial sea adjacent to Great Britain and the sea in any area designated under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964) for either or both of the following—

  1. (a)

     the importation into Great Britain and regasification of liquid gas prior to its conveyance to a pipeline system operated by the holder of a licence under section 7 or section 7ZA of the 1986 Act, or the liquefaction of gas for the purpose of its export from Great Britain; and

  2. (b)

     any activity, including temporary storage of gas or liquid gas, which is necessary for that importation, regasification or liquefaction;

• F20“LNG import or export facility” means a facility in Great Britain (including the territorial sea adjacent to Great Britain and the sea in any area designated under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964) for—

  1. (a)

     the importation into Great Britain and regasification of liquid gas prior to its conveyance to a pipeline system operated by the holder of a licence under section 7 or section 7ZA of the 1986 Act, or the liquefaction of gas for the purpose of its export from Great Britain; and

  2. (b)

     any activity, including temporary storage of gas or liquid gas, which is necessary for that importation, regasification or liquefaction;

• F5“main commercial conditions” means—

  1. (a)

     such information as would enable a potential applicant for a right to have gas processed by a gas processing facility to make a reasonable assessment of the cost of, or the method of calculating the cost of, acquiring that right;

  2. (b)

     the other significant terms on which such a right would be granted; and

  3. (c)

     such other information as F10the Authority may from time to time specify by notice;

• “owner”, in relation to a gas processing facility, includes a lessee and any person occupying or having control of the facility;

• “pipe-line” has the same meaning as in the M1 Pipe-lines Act 1962;

• “public gas transporter” has the same meaning as in Part I of the 1986 Act.

• F20“storage”, in relation to liquid gas in a gas storage facility, includes any liquefaction of gas or regasification of liquid gas ancillary to the storage of liquid gas, and “stored”, in relation to liquid gas in a gas storage facility, shall be construed accordingly;

• F20“the Authority” means the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority;

Subsections (1) to (3) of section 49 of the Pipe-lines Act 1962 (service of documents) shall apply for the purposes of this section as they apply for the purposes of that Act.

Section 91 of the Energy Act 2011 (meaning of “associate”) applies for the purposes of subsection (3) of this section as it applies for the purposes of section 82(7)(d) and (9)(a) of that Act.

In relation to any time before the appointed day, this section shall have effect as if for the words “public gas transporter”, in each place where they occur, there were substituted the words “public gas supplier”.