Gas purchased from Gazprom almost twice as low as a year ago

According to estimates by Elering, the average price of natural gas purchased from Gazprom in April was 13.50 euros per megawatt-hour, which is 49 per cent lower than a year ago.

The fall in prices was caused by the fall in the light and heavy heating oil prices, which are used in the gas purchase price formula. This price decrease was due to the drop in oil prices associated with the overproduction of oil.

The average gas price on the Lithuanian GET Baltic gas exchange in April was 16.41 euros per megawatt-hour, having fallen by 23 per cent in comparison with last year. Comparable prices on the Finnish Kaasupörssi gas exchange last month ranged between 14.40-18.45 euros per megawatt-hour.

In April, Estonia imported 41.3 million cubic metres of natural gas, which is 0.6 per cent more than the same time last year. The volume of gas imported from Lithuania totalled 5.1 million cubic metres in April, compared to 11.0 million cubic metres a year ago. Gas was imported from Lithuania in April by Baltic Energy Partners and Eesti Energia. The rest of the gas was purchased by Eesti Gaas from Gazprom.  

The entire volume of natural gas imported to Estonia in April entered via Karksi, and gas flows fluctuated between 0.89-1.74 million cubic metres per day. There were no reported disruptions in cross-border supplies.

The volume of natural gas network services rendered by Elering totalled 40.6 million cubic metres in April. Of this, the volume of services rendered to the largest natural gas distribution network – AS Gaasivõrgud – totalled 35.2 million cubic metres, or 87 per cent of the total volume. The estimated transmission pipeline gas reserve capacity grew year-on-year by 34.5 per cent to 4.9 million cubic metres. Last month, reserve capacity grew by 14.3 per cent in comparison with the March.

The natural gas transit pipeline passing through south-east Estonia saw 86.3 million cubic metres of natural gas passing through from Latvia to Russia in March. The Inčukalns underground reservoir in Latvia was 30 per cent full at the end of March. 

The natural gas transit pipeline passing through south-east Estonia saw 57.5 million cubic metres of natural gas passing through from Latvia to Russia in April. The Inčukalns underground reservoir in Latvia was 19 per cent full at the end of April. 

A full summary of the gas system is available here.