19. — F47[(1) (a) It shall be the duty of the Commission to monitor security of supply of natural gas.

(b) The monitoring referred to in paragraph (a) shall include the monitoring of—

(i) the balance between supply and demand on the natural gas system,

(ii) the natural gas flows on each part of the natural gas system,

(iii) customer demand on each part of the natural gas system,

(iv) the capacity of the natural gas system,

(v) the level of expected future demand over the following 7 years,

(vi) the envisaged additional capacity being planned or under construction,

(vii) the quality and level of maintenance of the natural gas system,

(viii) the measures to cover peak demand,

(ix) the measures to deal with a shortfall of capacity by one or more suppliers,

(x) the competitive impact of measures taken by the Commission to protect security of natural gas supply,

(xi) the levels of storage capacity,

(xii) the extent of long-term gas supply contracts concluded by licensed shippers and suppliers, and in particular their remaining duration, based on information provided by the shippers and suppliers concerned, but excluding commercially sensitive information,

(xiii) the degree of liquidity of the gas market,

(xiv) the regulatory frameworks to provide adequate incentives for new investment in exploration and production, storage, LNG and transport of gas, taking into account Article 22 of Directive 2003/55/EC.²

(1A) The Commission shall prepare and publish, not later than 31 July in each year, a statement (in this section referred to as a "gas capacity statement") outlining the findings resulting from the monitoring specified in subsection (1), together with the measures taken or envisaged to address any issues identified.]

F48[(1B) The Commission shall send a copy of the gas capacity statement to the Commission of the European Communities.]

(2) A gas capacity statement shall be based on information supplied on request to the Commission by natural gas undertakings and it shall be a duty of a natural gas undertaking to supply any information, whether oral or written, that the Commission might reasonably require for the preparation of a gas capacity statement to the extent and within the timescale requested by the Commission.

(3) The Commission may revise from time to time the information set out in and alter the form of each gas capacity statement.

(4) The Commission may omit from a published gas capacity statement the details of any confidential information of the type mentioned in section 13 of the Act of 1999.