Consumption of natural gas decreased by 8 per cent last year

Estonia imported and consumed a total of 4.8 terawatt-hours of natural gas in 2019, which is 8 per cent less than a year before.

Half of the natural gas entering Estonia – i.e. 2.4 terawatt-hours – entered at Karksi, and a nearly equal share, 2.3 terawatt-hours, entered via Värska gas metering station. One per cent – i.e., 0.1 terawatt-hours of natural gas – entered via Misso station. No natural gas entered Estonia in 2019 through Narva.

The lowest quantity of natural gas to enter in a 24-hour period was recorded in December, when 2.5 gigawatt-hours of natural gas entered Estonia. The highest quantity of natural gas to enter was in the beginning of the year, when 35.5 gigawatt-hours of natural gas entered Estonia.

Natural gas transit through the transmission pipeline between Russia and Latvia located in south-eastern Estonia grew 27 per cent year-over-year, reaching 19.2 terawatt-hours. Including transit volumes, a total of 24 terawatt-hours of natural gas passed through Elering’s transmission pipeline in 2019. That was 17 per cent more than in 2018.

According to data from the register of certificates of origin of gas administered by Elering, a total of 63 gigawatt-hours of biomethane was produced in 2019. In comparison to 2018, when a total of 40 gigawatt-hours was produced in the April-December period, 2019’s figures were 58 per cent greater. All of the biomethane produced in Estonia was consumed in the transport sector.

In December 2019, Estonia imported 582 gigawatt-hours of natural gas, which is 15 per cent less than in the same period the year before.

From the Elering transmission pipeline, 569 gigawatt-hours of natural gas was directed to consumption, which is 16 per cent more than a year before.

The reserve capacity of the gas transmission pipeline was 62 gigawatt-hours in December, exceeding the figure from a year ago by 8 per cent.