Brussels, 31/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has authorised the agreements relating to the joint venture Synergen, a power plant located in Dublin, concluded between the main Irish electricity company ESB and the Norwegian gas company, Statoil. In July 2000, ESB and Statoil notified four agreements concerning the construction and operation of the Synergen power plant in which ESB would hold a 70% stake and Statoil the remaining 30%. After the first "partnership deed", a "supply agreement" provides, moreover, for ESB Independent Energy Limited (ESBIE), an ESB subsidiary, to market the electricity produced by Synergen during fifteen years. A third agreement, a "gas supply agreement", stipulates that Statoil will provide Synergen with gas for 15 years, while a last "operation and maintenance agreement" stipulates that ESB will provide Synergen with operation and maintenance services for 15 years. The Commission mainly examined whether the creation of the joint venture would make Statoil disappear from the very concentrated electricity market in Ireland, or whether it is a potential competitor. The Commission establishes that ESB controls 97% of electricity production in Ireland and over 60% of electricity supplies to eligible customers (who are entitled to change supplier if they so wish). Even when the Northern Ireland company Viridian sets up its new power plant in Huntstown, the competitive balance on the market will only be sustainably improved if a third electricity producer, independent of ESB and Viridian, were to gain a foothold on the Irish market. The joint venture agreement prevents Statoil from taking part in competitive projects in the electricity sector or penetrating the market in an independent manner. In order to resolve the problem, the companies have proposed to the Irish Commission for Electricity Regulation (CER) several commitments, the main one of which is to make 600MW electricity available to the market until supplementary electricity sources are available in Ireland. This volume corresponds to around one half of the consumption of so-called "eligible" customers in Ireland. The Commission has cleared the operation, considering that the commitments proposed will facilitate the penetration of other operators on the Irish electricity markets.