Against the backdrop of low temperatures, the level of gas reserves in the Incukalns underground storage facility (UGS), the only one in the Baltic States, has dropped below 25%, Logos Press reports.
According to the analytical portal energyland.info, all the gas that was injected in preparation for winter has been taken away from the gas storage facility. The publication refers to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe, a leading European association of 67 gas infrastructure operators from 26 EU countries, as well as Conexus Baltic Grid, the operator of Latvia’s gas transportation system and storage facilities.
At the moment, the selection is being made from the reserves of previous years. There are 100 million cubic meters of gas left to the minimum level of filling for the last five years. In February, on average, more than 10 million cubic meters of gas is consumed from the storage facility per day.
The situation is close to critical
Experts call the situation tense-critical and note that the insufficient volume of gas in the UGS facilities threatens to cause problems for reliable gas supplies to consumers in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland.
Experts point out that on February 10, gas prices with “day-ahead” delivery on the EEX exchange in the Baltic States were at a level close to 500 euros per 1000 cubic meters, while in Finland they amounted to 525 euros per 1000 cubic meters. This is 1.5 times higher than on the Dutch TTF hub.
The trend of rapid depletion of gas reserves in European UGS facilities continues. Thus, on February 8, the level of filling of gas storages in the Netherlands fell below 20%. The country is drawing from the reserves of previous years.
A similar situation is observed in Germany, where less than 25% of gas is left. It is aggravated by disruptions in the supply of liquefied gas to German terminals.
