A Gap in the Grid Attempts to Introduce Natural Gas in Sweden 1967-1991 Anna Åberg Stockholm 2013 1 Doctoral Thesis in the Historical Studies of Science, Technology and Environment, Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, 2013 ©Anna Åberg 2013 Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment Royal Institute of Technology, KTH SE- 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm Papers in the History and Philosophy of Technology TRITA-HOT 2068 Editor: Carina Challis ISSN 0349-2842 ISBN 978-91-7501-740-2 Cover picture: From the cover of SOU 1972:25 Sleeve picture: Adriano Atterman 2 Contents Preface ........................................................................................................... 5 List of Illustrations ......................................................................................... 7 Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................. 9 A Gap in the Grid ................................................................................................................ 9 The Nature of Natural Gas .................................................................................................12 Swedish Energy Policy and Natural Gas ............................................................................ 17 Project Perspectives ...........................................................................................................21 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions ................................................................. 27 Method and Source Material ............................................................................................ 28 Disposition ........................................................................................................................ 30 Chapter 2: The Swedish Energy System: An Introduction ............................ 33 From Wood to Oil ............................................................................................................. 33 Power Positions ................................................................................................................. 34 The Rise and Fall of Town Gas ......................................................................................... 38 Concluding Remarks ......................................................................................................... 39 Chapter 3: Pipes and Politics: Soviet Negotiations 1967-1976 ....................... 43 Red Gas ............................................................................................................................. 43 Industrial Interest ............................................................................................................. 46 Finnish Success ................................................................................................................. 49 New Swedish Attempts ..................................................................................................... 52 Östgas AB .......................................................................................................................... 56 Concluding Remarks ..........................................................................................................61 Chapter 4: Commissions and Cooperation: Attempts to create a Swedish Natural Gas Sector ....................................................................................... 65 The First State Commission .............................................................................................. 65 International Ambitions ................................................................................................... 69 The Final Commission Report ........................................................................................... 71 The Natural Gas Committee ............................................................................................. 75 From 50% to 51% .............................................................................................................. 78 Concluding Remarks ......................................................................................................... 81 Chapter 5: Negotiating With Neighbours: The Sydgas Deal .......................... 85 Continuing Negotiations ................................................................................................... 85 Swedish Rejection ............................................................................................................. 87 The Danish Gas Project ..................................................................................................... 89 Negotiating Danish Gas .....................................................................................................91 Conflicts and Closures ...................................................................................................... 94 A “Nordic” Project? ........................................................................................................... 99 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................................ 101 3 Chapter 6: Construction and Crisis: Sydgas in practice ............................... 105 Constructing Sydgas ....................................................................................................... 105 Energy Policy in the Early 1980s .................................................................................... 108 The Sydgas Crisis ............................................................................................................. 111 Taxes and Tensions .......................................................................................................... 118 The Next Chapter in the Ownership Serial ..................................................................... 120 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................................123 Chapter 7: Revisiting and Revitalizing: Searching for New Supply .............. 127 Revisiting Östgas.............................................................................................................. 127 The End of Östgas ............................................................................................................133 Transiting Norwegian Gas .............................................................................................. 136 Siljansringen .................................................................................................................... 141 New Confidence .............................................................................................................. 143 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................................ 147 Chapter 8: The Energy Dilemma: Swedish Gas Politics at the End of the 1980s ........................................................................................................... 151 Turning Tides ................................................................................................................... 151 Part of a Solution or Part of the Problem? ....................................................................... 153 Ownership and Liberalisation ......................................................................................... 161 The Three-party Agreement ........................................................................................... 164 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................................ 165 Chapter 9: Concluding Discussion ............................................................... 169 A Messy Tangle of Actors and Interests .......................................................................... 169 Gas Companies and Ownership ...................................................................................... 170 State Interest .................................................................................................................... 172 Transnational Complexity ............................................................................................... 175 Market Problems.............................................................................................................. 176 Changing Contexts ........................................................................................................... 179 A History of Failure? ....................................................................................................... 180 Final Words ..................................................................................................................... 182 Bibliography ...............................................................................................184 Appendices .................................................................................................. 194 1: Swedegas Organisation ............................................................................................... 194 Swedegas Shareholders 1976-2012 ................................................................................. 194 Chairman of the Board 1976-2012 ................................................................................... 195 CEO 1976-1992 ................................................................................................................ 195 2: List of Organisations