According to gas transmission system operator Amber Grid, Lithuania's gas demand continued to decrease, but gas flows to the Nordic countries increased. In January-September, Lithuania consumed 9.3 TWh of gas, 22% less than in the first three quarters of 2022, when the country's gas demand was almost 12 TWh. Domestic gas consumption decreased due to the warm weather last winter, high gas prices in the first months of the year and a significant decrease in gas use for fertiliser production and urban heating.
During the three quarters, 16.6 terawatt hours (TWh) of gas were transferred via pipeline to Latvia for storage at the Inčukalnis underground storage facility and for the needs of the Baltic States and Finland. This represents an increase of 26% compared to the first three quarters of 2022.
"With the heating season already underway, it won't be long before suppliers start using the gas stored in Latvia's storage facilities. Until now, gas has flowed continuously through Lithuania to Latvia. Suppliers have been storing gas in the Inčukalnis underground storage facility all year round to be ready in time for winter, when gas is most needed to heat cities. In addition, this winter the storage will be an important resource for the Baltic market participants due to the incident in the Baltic Sea when the Balticconector interconnector with Finland was temporarily out of service," says Nemunas Biknius, CEO of Amber Grid.
Data from Gas Infrastructure Europe shows that Europe and the Baltic region are basically ready to stock up on gas: Latvia's Inčukalnis gas storage facility is 96% full, or almost 22 TWh of gas. European gas storage facilities are already 98% full. This is a very high level compared to the situation in recent years.
According to N. Biknius, one of the most important recent events was the connection of the first biomethane plant to the gas transmission system. "Since the middle of this summer, Amber Grid's main gas pipelines have been transporting not only conventional natural gas, but also biomethane, a biogas that has been purified to meet the quality requirements of the gas grid. Over the past few months, about 21 GWh of green gas produced in Lithuania has been injected into the transmission system," says N. Biknius. Detailed information on the quantity and quality of biomethane fed into the system on a daily basis can be monitored in the open data section of the Amber Grid website: https://ambergrid.lt/klientams/atviri-duomenys/24
In January-September 2023, a total of 28.8 TWh of gas was transported into the Lithuanian gas transmission system, excluding the transit to the Karaliaučius region. This is almost the same as last year at the same time, when 29.6 TWh of gas was delivered to Lithuania. Most of these imports (around 67%) were transited to other EU countries.
The GIPL pipeline connecting Lithuania and Poland transported 2.6 TWh of gas to Europe and 2.8 TWh to Lithuania in the first nine months of 2023. The Klaipėda LNG terminal, the main source of gas supply to Lithuania and other EU countries, accounted for 87% (25 TWh) of the total gas transported into the system in the first three quarters of 2023. Flows from Latvia accounted for 4% (1 TWh) and from Poland for 10% (2.8 TWh).
