Natural gas imports increased by a third in November

In November, the amount of gas imported to Estonia increased by almost one third compared to last year, reaching 59.73 million cubic metres. The sharp increase was caused by colder weather conditions in comparison with last year.

In November, balance providers imported gas via the Karksi and Värska border crossing points, with the amount of natural gas that reached Estonia ranging between 1.4 and 2.6 million cubic metres per twenty-four-hour period. In Elering’s estimation, natural gas shipped from Lithuania totalled 6.25 per cent of the imports.

In Lithuania, the price of natural gas traded on the GET Baltic gas exchange ranged between 17.5 and 20.0 euros per megawatt-hour last month. The comparable price range on the Finnish Kaasupörssi remained between 15.3 and 26.8 euros per megawatt-hour.

In a yearly calculation, the transmission service rendered by Elering also increased last month by almost a third, reaching 59.31 million cubic metres. The majority of this – 86 per cent – went to the account of the biggest gas distribution network operator, Gaasivõrgud AS.

In November, natural gas only moved in the direction of Latvia to Russia through the gas transit pipeline that passes through southeast Estonia, to a total of 0.51 million cubic metres. A year ago, the amount of transit in the same direction was 38.0 million cubic metres.

The extraction of natural gas from the Inčukalns underground gas storage facility in Latvia continued. 188.5 million cubic metres of natural gas were extracted in a month and 51.2 per cent of the capacity of the storage facility was filled by the end of the month.

As of the end of November, 460.4 million cubic metres of natural gas have been consumed in Estonia in 2016, equating to an increase of 39 million cubic metres in a year-on-year comparison.

The reserve capacity of the transmission pipeline increased by 43 per cent in a yearly calculation, and stood at 5.51 million cubic metres by the end of the month.