According to Amber Grid, the gas transmission system operator, Lithuania’s gas demand has decreased significantly, but gas flows through the country’s transmission system have increased. Although the gas price curve on European exchanges has been moving downwards recently, this is due to the extremely high gas price this year and the need for timely gas supplies from countries with access to the Lithuanian gas transmission system.
In the first nine months of this year, almost 30 terawatt-hours (TWh) of gas were delivered to Lithuania, excluding transit to Kaliningrad. This is 45% more than at the same time last year, when 20.5 TWh of gas was transported to Lithuania. For the needs of the other Baltic States and Finland, as well as for storage at the Inčukalns underground gas storage facility, 13.2 TWh of gas was transported via gas pipeline to Latvia. This is almost eight times more than in the same period in 2021.
As a result of the energy price crisis in Europe, gas consumption in Lithuania fell by more than a third in nine months. From January to the end of September, the country consumed almost 12 TWh of gas, which is 36% less than at the same time last year, when gas demand was 18.5 TWh. The drop in gas consumption is mainly due to a significant reduction in gas consumption this year by Achema, a fertiliser producer and the largest gas consumer in Lithuania.
“The international crisis in the energy sector is manifested in the fact that gas consumption in Lithuania is rapidly declining, but gas is flowing through our pipelines at never-before-seen volumes. Currently, around 80% of the gas entering Lithuania is being transferred to other countries in the European Union. In the context of recent events, we have definitively become a crossroads for gas flows and we are helping other countries to secure their gas supplies,” says Nemunas Biknius, CEO at Amber Grid. He stresses that more gas transported to other countries means more revenue for the country from the use of gas transmission networks. This could lead to lower gas transmission prices for Lithuanian consumers in the future.
Since May this year, 4.2 TWh of gas was transported to Poland from May to September via the GIPL pipeline, and 1 TWh was transported via the GIPL interconnection to Lithuania.
The Klaipėda LNG terminal, the main source of gas supply to Lithuania and the Baltic States, accounted for 77% (22.7 TWh) of the total gas transported into the system in the first nine months. Flows from Latvia accounted for almost 10% (2.8 TWh), and flows from Poland comprised 3%. From January to March, about 10% (3 TWh) of gas was transported through the Lithuania-Belarus interconnection.
After Lithuania stopped importing Russian gas on the 1st of April, only gas intended for Kaliningrad is transported via the Lithuania-Belarus interconnection. Gas transit to Kaliningrad Oblast amounted to 17.6 TWh in the first nine months of this year, which is 3% lower than at the same time last year when 18.2 TWh of gas was transported to Kaliningrad via Lithuania.
Gas for Lithuania and other countries of the European Union is supplied through the Klaipėda LNG terminal, from Poland and Latvia.
