Natural gas consumption falls five per cent in 2017

The volume of natural gas passing from the Elering-managed gas transmission network to distribution networks, i.e. natural gas distributed for consumption, fell last year by five per cent compared to 2016 from 5.5 terawatt-hours to 5.2 terawatt-hours.

Imports of natural gas into the country were as high as consumption levels, at 5.2 terawatt-hours. The smallest amount of natural gas entering the Elering transmission network in one 24-hour period last year was in June, with 2.4 gigawatt-hours, and the largest volume was in January, at 41.6 gigawatt-hours.

The volume transiting through the pipeline located in southeastern Estonia fell last year by 31 per cent to 13 terawatt-hours. In 2016, transit volumes totalled 18.9 terawatt-hours. Overall, in 2016 a total of 24.5 terawatt-hours of natural gas entered the Elering transmission network, including transit volumes, compared with 18.2 terawatt-hours in 2017.

In January of this year, a total of 709.6 gigawatt-hours of natural gas were imported to Estonia, and in February, this total was 781.1 gigawatt-hours. The lowest amount of natural gas entering the country during one 24-hour period in January was 14.9 gigawatt-hours, and the highest amount was 32 gigawatt-hours; in February, these figures were 17 and 48.6 gigawatt-hours respectively.

The volume of gas consumed in January was 707.7 gigawatt-hours, falling by five per cent year-on-year. In February, consumption totalled 784.7 gigawatt-hours, an increase of 15 per cent year-on-year due to the colder weather conditions.

The transmission pipeline capacity fell in January by two per cent to 53.3 gigawatt-hours and in February by seven per cent to 48 gigawatt-hours.

Volumes transiting through southeastern Estonia totalled 210.4 gigawatt-hours in January, and 62.6 gigawatt-hours in February.