05.02.2019 16:25
Consumption of natural gas last year at same level as in 2017
In 2018, Estonia imported and consumed 5.2 terawatt-hours of natural gas, the same as in 2017.
71 per cent of natural gas entered Estonia through the Värska gas metering station, 21 per cent from through Karksi and 8 per cent via Narva station. The minimum amount of natural gas that entered the country in a 24-hour period was in June last year (0.1 gigawatt-hours) and the maximum occurred in February last year (48.6 gigawatt-hours).
Natural gas transit through the transmission pipeline located in south-eastern Estonia grew 17 per cent year-over-year to 15.2 terawatt-hours. Including transit volumes, a total of 20.4 terawatt-hours of natural gas passed through Elering’s transmission pipeline in 2018. In 2017, the annual volume was 18.2 terawatt-hours.
According to data from the register of certificates of origin of gas administered by Elering, a total of 40 gigawatt-hours of biomethane was produced in 2018. Estonia launched domestic production of biomethane in April last year, and all of it was consumed in the transport sector.
In December 2018, Estonia imported 689 gigawatt-hours of natural gas, which is 13 per cent more than in the same period the year before. From the Elering transmission pipeline, 680 gigawatt-hours of natural gas was directed to consumption, which is 11 per cent more than a year before.
The minimum amount of natural gas that entered the country in a 24-hour period in December was 16.2 gigawatt-hours and the maximum was 30.3 gigawatt-hours. Last month, a total of close to 1093 gigawatt hours of natural gas entered the Elering-administered transmission network. Of this, 405 gigawatt-hours comprised transit from Russia to Latvia, which saw a significant increase.
The reserve capacity of the transmission pipeline in December was 57 gigawatt-hours, exceeding the figure from a year before that by 6 per cent.