Natural gas imports decreased due to warmer weather in January

In January, natural gas imports decreased by 28 per cent compared to the same period last year, reaching 71.2 million cubic metres. The decrease was mainly caused by the warmer air temperatures in a year-on-year comparison.

In January, balance providers imported gas via the Karksi and Värska border crossing points. The smallest amount of natural gas that reached Estonia over a twenty-four-hour period was 1.6 million cubic metres and the largest amount was 4.0 million cubic metres. In Elering’s estimation, natural gas shipped from Lithuania totalled 4.9 per cent of the imports.

The amount of domestic transmission service also decreased by 28 per cent in a yearly calculation and totalled 71.3 million cubic metres.

Last month, the average price of natural gas traded on the Lithuania’s gas exchange GET Baltic was 18.35 euros per megawatt-hour. The comparable price on the Finnish Kaasupörssi was 19.58 euros per megawatt-hour.

The reserve capacity of the transmission pipeline increased by 39 per cent in a yearly calculation, and stood at 5.2 million cubic metres by the end of the month.

In January, 205.7 million cubic metres of natural gas were extracted from the Inčukalns underground gas storage facility in Latvia. Over 34 per cent of the capacity of the storage facility was filled by the end of the month. Last month, there was no gas movement in the gas transit pipeline that passes through southeast Estonia.