The participants of the primary and the secondary market, who have executed natural gas supply contracts in force and registered with the Market Manager, may modify them by mutual agreement.

This measure shall be subject to the following conditions:

1. It shall apply to all supply contracts in execution or which begin to be executed before 30 November 2020.
2. The negotiations of quantities and prices of natural gas supply contracts, both on the Primary and Secondary Markets.
3. The quantities and prices agreed may vary on a monthly basis.
4. The supply contracts resulting from the direct negotiation mechanisms of the Primary Market, signed under the modalities of firm, firm at 95% - CF95, C1 supply, C2 supply, conditional firm and option to purchase gas from the Primary Market, may be modified. Likewise, it will apply to those contracts executed before the coming into force of Resolution CREG 089 of 2013, under the Take or Pay modality, and which are currently in execution.
5. The Supply Contracts resulting from the direct negotiation mechanisms of the Secondary Market, executed under the modalities of firm or guaranteeing firm, conditional firm, gas purchase option, gas purchase option against exports and contingency, may be modified.
   
   

The amounts of energy released from the modifications of the supply contracts shall be registered and published in the Market Manager's Central Electronic Bulletin -BEC- by the sellers. Once they have been registered and published, they may be traded by these agents through direct negotiations or in the trading processes from CREG Resolution 114 of 2017, as amended by CREG Resolutions 153 of 2017 and 021 of 2019.The contracts resulting from the commercialization of the quantities released from the negotiations must be agreed upon according to the contractual modalities provided for both the Primary and Secondary Markets in CREG Resolution 114 of 2017, as amended by Article 2 of CREG Resolution 021 of 2019 or the one that amends or replaces it.

These modifications must be registered with the Natural Gas Market Operator within fifteen (15) calendar days from the entry into force of this resolution.

Producers who own natural gas and who, in their Declaration to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, in accordance with the provisions of Decree 1073 of 2015, have allocated it for their own consumption, may market it through direct negotiations or in the marketing processes provided for in CREG Resolution 114 of 2017, as amended by CREG Resolutions 153 of 2017 and 021 of 2019. Prior to selling these quantities, Producers must register and publish them in the Market Manager's Central Electronic Bulletin -BEC-.

The contracts resulting from the commercialization of the released quantities shall be agreed according to the contractual modalities set forth in Article 9 of CREG Resolution 114 of 2017, modified by Article 2 of CREG Resolution 021 of 2019. Therefore, their execution shall be established between the date of entry into force of the resolution and 30 November 2020.

It should be noted that this measure shall apply to the quantities of natural gas declared for its own consumption to the Ministry of Mines and Energy for the term of 2020.

On the other hand, Transporters, Producers-Marketers, Imported Gas Marketers, Marketers and Non-Regulated Users, of the primary and secondary markets, referred to in CREG Resolution 114 of 2017, that have executed transport capacity contracts, in force and whose obligations are currently under execution or start execution at any time before November 30, 2020 and which have been registered with the Market Operator, may, by mutual agreement, modify the contracted capacities, and determine the applicable Regulated Charge Pairs for the period from the date of issue of the resolution until November 30, 2020.

The foregoing applies to all contractual modalities of firm transport capacity covered by CREG Resolution 114 of 2017, or the one that amends or replaces it.

It is important to mention that in order to guarantee the provision of the service and in the event that due to operating conditions at the sources of natural gas production, it is required to change the Delivery Point in the Transportation Contracts, it will be allowed, by mutual agreement, between the Sender and the Transporter, and it will not be considered a default, as long as the Producer of the natural gas assumes the increase of costs in the Transportation service.

These modifications must also be registered with the Natural Gas Market Manager within fifteen (15) calendar days as from the date this resolution becomes effective.

Exceptionally, and implemented until December 31, 2020, Article 18 of CREG Resolution 123 of 2013 shall remain as follows:

"Article 18. Invoicing for the supply, transportation and distribution of natural gas. The producer-marketer, the marketer of imported gas, the transporter, the unregulated user when acting as seller in the secondary market under the terms of CREG Resolution 114 of 2017, the distributor and/or the marketer, as appropriate, may invoice the supply, transportation and distribution of natural gas considering two months periods. To this end, they shall answer objections and requests for clarification submitted by the marketer or non-regulated user to the settlement and incorporate the corresponding corrections in the invoicing.

At the latest on the second working day following the expiry of the period for objections and requests for clarification to the settlement, the respective market participant shall deliver to the trader the original invoice or the electronic invoice that complies with the provisions of the rules in force regarding this type of documents.

Paragraph 1. The carrier and/or distributor shall include in the invoice the obligations of the trader generated in compliance with: i) paragraphs 14 and 23 of Article 8; ii) paragraphs 1, 8 and 9 of Article 9; iii) paragraphs 9 and 10 of Article 10; iv) paragraphs 9, 10 and 11 of Article 11; and v) paragraphs 1, 8 and 9 of Article 12 of this Resolution.

Paragraph 2. If, after the invoice has been delivered to the trader, a market participant identifies values owed that are not included in the invoice, that participant may include those values in the next invoice.

Paragraph 3. The transporter shall indicate on the invoice, separately, the charges associated with the transportation service, the parking service and the others specified in paragraph 1 of this article. Also, the transporter and sender shall keep available the readings and graphs, and the relevant magnetic files to verify the accuracy of any statement, invoice, or computation.

The shipper shall include at least the following information on the invoice:

1. Name of the company responsible for providing the service.
2. Name of the shipper and points of service initiation and service termination.
3. NIU of the user directly connected to the transport system served by the marketer and for which the service is invoiced.
4. Billing period for which transportation service is charged.
5. The volumetric equivalent of the amount of energy authorized at the point of commencement of service for standard conditions.
6. Calorific value of natural gas.
7. Maximum date for timely payment, date of suspension and/or interruption of service
8. Total value of the invoice.
9. The charges authorized by the Commission.
10. Value of overdue debts.
    

Paragraph 4. When a market participant invoices more than once the actual value of the obligations owed by a non-regulated marketer or user, the competent authority may consider this conduct to be an anti-competitive practice.

Paragraph 5. The producer-marketer, the marketer of imported gas, the transporter, the non-regulated user when acting as seller in the secondary market under the terms of CREG Resolution 114 of 2017, the distributor and/or the marketer, as appropriate, shall invoice the supply, transportation and distribution of natural gas to the non-regulated user with the periodicity provided for in the respective contracts. Likewise, the parties to the contracts may modify said periodicity by mutual agreement, applicable to the services caused during the period between the effective date of this resolution and November 30, 2020. In any case, at the time of signing the corresponding contract, the non-regulated user may take advantage of the period established in this article in the case of the marketer serving regulated users".

It is important to mention that the modifications made to the billing of supply, transport and distribution services, by virtue of the provisions of this article, should not result in increases in the costs of providing services for the attention of regulated and non-regulated users who are served through a marketer.

Exceptionally, and with application until December 31, 2020, Article 21 of CREG Resolution 123 of 2013 shall remain in force:

"Article 21. Payment of the invoice. The due date of the invoice shall be as agreed by the parties. If no mutual agreement is reached, the due date of the invoice shall be the fourth working day after its delivery, provided that the invoice is issued after the procedure established in the previous articles of this chapter has been exhausted. For this purpose, at the end of the due date, the respective market participant must have available and effective resources for the payments made by the trader; otherwise, it shall be understood that the trader has not made the payment.The trader or the unregulated user shall use the payment procedures indicated by the respective market participant and provide via fax, mail or electronic means, the complete information of the payment made, at the latest on the working day following the payment date.If the payment is not made within the stipulated period, the marketer or the unregulated user shall be in breach of its obligations and the respective market participant may execute the coverage mechanisms agreed with the marketer or the unregulated user. When these coverage mechanisms are not sufficient to pay the obligations of the services provided in the natural gas market, the respective market participant may charge the default interest rate on the missing amounts.The marketer or the non-regulated user shall pay, within the term of the invoice issued pursuant to Article 18 of this Resolution, the amounts that are not objected or, otherwise, the respective market participant may make effective the coverage mechanisms agreed with the marketer or the non-regulated user up to the value corresponding to the amounts that are not objected.Once the market participant that provided the service resolves the difference that motivates the objection, and if there are missing values, the trader or the non-regulated user shall pay them recognizing the default interest rate if the objection is not accepted. Otherwise, the DTF in force at the time the invoice issued according to Article 18 of this Resolution is due.Payments made by marketers and unregulated users will be applied first to the cancellation of interest on arrears and then to the capital value, considering the age of the due dates, in accordance with Article 881 of the Commercial Code.Paragraph 1. The delay in the issuance of the invoice by a market participant shall not affect the validity or values of the coverage mechanisms for payment of supply, transport or distribution presented by the marketer or unregulated user to the corresponding market participant.Paragraph 2. The due date of the invoices to the non-regulated user shall be the one provided in the respective contracts. In any case, at the time of the subscription of the corresponding contract, the non-regulated user may take advantage of the term established in this article for the marketer that serves regulated users".It should be noted that the modifications made at the due date of invoices should not result in increases in the costs of providing services for the attention of regulated users and non-regulated users who are served through a marketer”.

Both the negotiations and the agreements resulting from them must comply with the general rules of conduct referred to in CREG Resolution 080 of 2019, in particular Articles 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 23 and 24.

In addition, all benefits resulting from the negotiations should be passed on to the end user. It is important to emphasize that the negotiations should not have the ability, purpose or effect of increasing the cost of providing home service to regulated and unregulated users.

Finally, it is established that from date of issue of this resolution and until 30 November 2020, the Gas Market Operator will consolidate information on new developments in the fulfilment of natural gas supply and transport contracts, for analysis and presentation to the competent authorities.

Moreover, the monthly information referred to in paragraph ii of section 4.1 c) of Annex 2 of Resolution CREG 114 of 2017 shall be declared to the market operator on a weekly basis.

Finally, agents must report the mentioned information in the term, medium and format defined by the Market Manager.

This resolution is effective from the date of its publication in the Official Journal.