During the first quarter of this year, gas transmission system operator Amber Grid earned EUR 13.6 million in revenue, compared to EUR 15 million over the same period last year. The level of revenue as well as profitability was most affected by the 16 per cent lower transmission service tariff for system users that has been applied since the beginning of the year, as well as the decreased demand for gas transmission due to the unusually warm weather, especially in the heat production sector.
“Due to the extremely attractive gas prices, we significantly increased gas transportation to the Baltic States, which amortised the lower demand for gas transmission services in Lithuania. In addition, the operations of our subsidiary, the GET Baltic gas exchange, which began in the Finnish market from the beginning of the year, exceeded our expectations – the planned turnover for the first half of the year was achieved in the first three months. It is very important that despite the lockdown that is in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have ensured the safety of our employees and business continuity without deviating from the construction schedule for the interconnection with Poland, which is important for market participants in Lithuania and the region as a whole,” said Amber Grid CEO Nemunas Biknius.
During the first quarter of 2020, 7.1 terawatt hours (TWh) of gas were supplied to Lithuania, not including gas transportation to the Kaliningrad Region. This is 9 per cent less than in January-March 2019, when 7.7 TWh of gas were transported to Lithuania. During this time, 6.8 TWh of gas were used for Lithuanian demand, or 10 per cent less than during the same period last year, when 7.5 TWh of gas was consumed.
Of the total amount of gas that was brought in for consumers in Lithuania, the other Baltic States and Finland in January-March 2020, 74 per cent was delivered from the terminal, and 26 per cent came by pipeline from Belarus and Latvia. For the first time ever, gas from the Klaipėda LNG terminal dominated the overall gas flow for the entire first quarter of the year and surpassed gas supplied via pipelines.
Amber Grid’s net profit for Q1 2020 was EUR 3.5 million, which is 25 per cent less than for the same period last year, when net profit was EUR 4.7 million. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) for the first quarter amounted to EUR 6 million, which is 28 per cent lower than for the first quarter of 2019, when EBITDA was EUR 8.3 million.
The GET Baltic gas exchange, which is a subsidiary of Amber Grid, demonstrated strong results in the first quarter after starting activities in Finland on 1 January 2020 and becoming a unified regional natural gas trading platform for the Baltic and Finnish gas markets. During the first quarter of this year, GET Baltic earned EUR 296,000 in net profit. The trading turnover on the exchange exceeded 2.3 TWh; compared to the same period last year, trading turnover increased by 64 per cent, and the number of transactions concluded increased by as much as 95 per cent.
The largest strategic project being implemented by Amber Grid is construction of the Gas Interconnection Poland-Lithuania (GIPL), which began at the beginning of 2020 and has been in full swing ever since, despite the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
85 km of steel pipes have already been delivered to Lithuania from Poland, 64 km of pipes have been welded, and the first kilometres of the gas pipeline have been laid in the excavated trenches. Archaeological research is also currently under way along the route of the gas pipeline, and preparations are being made for the complex horizontal directional drilling that will have to be done for construction of the gas pipeline under the Neris river.
