Stored reserves of natural gas serving not only Estonia but also Latvia, Lithuania and Finland are currently at 55% capacity, ahead of heating season, compared with a European average of 80%.
The gas storage facility at Incukalns, Latvia holds the reserves for all three Baltic States plus Finland.
Energy policy expert Andres Mae said: “As of August 26, the Incukalns storage facility’s capacity was 55% of the maximum volume, while the trend was downwards, meaning more natural gas was being extracted from it than came in.”
This relates to the halting of inward natural gas supplies from the Russian Federation in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, he added.
“Since August 12, not a single cubic meter has reached Incukalns from Russia,” Mae said.
An agreement between the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Finnish governments is needed on how to distribute the remaining gas reserves, to avoid any struggles in winter.
While the average capacity of natural gas storage facilities in Europe is 80%, the picture there varies too.
He said: “In Europe, warehouses are filled to an average of 80%. The worst situation is in the Baltic States, followed by Bulgaria, then Hungary and Austria. The remaining states are either very close to 80% or have exceeded it. However, the six countries mentioned are somewhere around 60% or even less, as in the case of the Latvian facility.”
France, which imports from both Norway and Algeria, by comparison enjoys around a 90% natural gas storage capacity, President Emmanuel Macron has said recently.
However, gas and electricity supplier Elering paints a less bleak picture.
Ain Koster, Elering’s communications chief, said that the Lithuanian Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at Klaipeda, along with the Incukalns reserve, would ensure Estonia’s gas needs until its own, planned LNG terminal started functioning.
Koster said: “In addition to the capacity percentage, one should also look at how large the volume of this storage is, or how large the amount in the storage is when compared with consumption. If we compare the amount of gas and consumption, the volume of our storage certainly does not look so bleak.”
“The Lithuanian terminal and the Latvian storage nicely cover our current consumption. You might even say that the Lithuanian terminal largely covers the current consumption. Maybe we need to take gas from the Latvian storage as well. However, if we are also talking about the beginning of next year – spring and late winter, then we definitely need additional terminals, while the construction of the terminal is ongoing both in Estonia and in Finland,” Koster added.
An LNG vessel containing the first consignment of LNG is en route from Argentina to Inkoo, southern Finland, while Finland and Estonia operate the Balticconnector gas pipeline, which runs under the Gulf of Finland.
Work on Estonia’s LNG terminal at Paldiski is also in progress and should be completed by year-end according to reports.
This would mean an LNG floating vessel could be moored either side of the Gulf of Finland.
Estonia’s own annual natural gas needs stand at about 5 TWh, of which 1 TWh is being set aside as a state reserve. (ERR/Business World Magazine)
