In the first quarter of 2021, gas demand in Lithuania increased by almost one third to 8.7 terawatt hours (TWh) of gas, compared to 6.8 TWh of gas demand in the same period last year. The significant increase in consumption was driven by a cold winter, which boosted gas demand in the heat and power generation sectors.
Data from Amber Grid, the gas transmission system operator, show that virtually all of the gas entering Lithuania in the first quarter of the year was intended for Lithuania’s needs, excluding gas transit to the Kaliningrad region.
Particularly large gas flows in the first quarter of this year came from Latvia, mainly from the Inčukalnis gas storage facility. In January-March, the volume of gas transported to Lithuania through the Lithuanian-Latvian gas interconnection point was the highest in history, amounting to 2.4 TWh, compared to 1 TWh in the same period last year.
“Taking advantage of Lithuania’s well-developed gas infrastructure and favourable gas prices on the market, gas suppliers transported impressive volumes of gas towards Latvia during the 2020 warm season. Then, most of the gas transported by ship to the Klaipėda LNG terminal went to Latvia’s Inčukalnis gas storage facility for storage. This winter, when the cold arrived and the demand for gas increased, market participants took active steps to “send” gas from the storage facility, which was fully filled in the summer," says Nemunas Biknius, CEO of Amber Grid.
The low temperatures that persisted throughout the first three months of the year increased the demand for gas in the heating sector. Companies supplying heat to cities ordered twice as much gas as they had planned, without compromising on their customers’ needs. During peak heating periods, heating networks significantly supplemented their normal use of biofuels with natural gas by switching on gas boilers.
As demand for electricity grew, the country’s largest electricity generation complex in Elektrėnai also increased its gas-fired generation compared to the first quarter of last year.
The Klaipėda LNG Terminal supplied 3.9 TWh of gas in the first quarter, or 44%, while Latvia supplied 27% and Belarus 29% of the total gas injected for Lithuanian, Baltic and Finnish consumers.
