The gas transmission system operator Amber Grid has updated the Rules for the use of the transmission system that will enable easier use of Klaipėda LNG terminal, will allow for a broader application of the implicit capacity allocation method for the market participants, and will enable signing of agreement for gas transmission services electronically. This is aimed at creating more flexible conditions for the use of the natural gas transmission system services.
The new services of Amber Grid will become effective from the beginning of 2020. The updated Rules for the use of the transmission system were approved by the National Energy Regulatory Council.
The Rules will allow simplify usage the LNG entry point in Klaipėda which recently has been very actively operated. From the next year, the network users importing gas through the LNG terminal will be able to submit the nominations only to the LNG terminal operator without the need to additionally nominate to the transmission system operator.
In 2019, during the period from January to November, 63% of the entire gas amount injected, that was intended for consumers in Lithuania and other Baltic States, were supplied from the LNG terminal in Klaipėda. The amount of gas supplied through the LNG terminal in Klaipėda was more than twice bigger compared to the same period last year.
Whereas from 2020 trading on the GET Baltic gas exchange will be done around the clock, the Rules provide for the possibility to allocate the within-day gas transmission capacity at the gas pipeline interconnection point with Latvia through the gas exchange in a much more comfortable manner, and not just during the current exchange trading period which is from 10:00 AM to 02:00 PM.
In addition, the competition and liquidity of trading in within-day product will be increased in the Baltic States and Finland. The implicit capacity allocation method when gas transmission capacity is aquired along with the gas amount purchased will make it possible to link offers to purchase and sell gas on Lithuanian joint Latvian-Estonian and Finnish (the connection with which will be operative from the beginning of next year) market areas. This amendment to the Rules is in line with the solutions that will come into effect in the area of Latvian and Estonian gas market.
The customer portfolio of Amber Grid consists of more than 100 major industrial objects, gas supply companies, and district heating networks.
The largest customers of the gas transmission system in Lithuania that purchase the most gas for consumption or supply purposes include the nitrogen fertilizer production company Achema, Vilniaus šilumos tinklai, the state-owned electricity and gas supply company Ignitis, gas suppliers Imlitex, Achema Gas Trade, energy company Klaipėdos energija and Energijos skirstymo operatorius (ESO). In recent years, the increasing number of other companies in the Baltic States are also becoming the customers of Amber Grid.
