Estonia Gets Cheaper Russian Gas than Lithuania

Estonia’s electricity and gas company Elering paid Russian exporter Gazprom an average €13.50/MWh in April, which is 49% lower than a year ago.

Meanwhile, the average gas price on the Lithuanian GET Baltic Gas Exchange in April was €16.41/ MWh, 23% lower than in the same period last year. Lithuania has an LNG import terminal, which gave it an alternative to Russian gas.

Elering says the fall in price was caused by the fall in oil prices, which are part of the gas purchase price formula. In April, Estonia imported 41.3mn m³ of natural gas, which was 0.6 % more than the same time last year. The volume of gas imported from Lithuania totalled 5.1mn m³ in April, compared with 11.0mn m³ a year ago. Gas was imported from Lithuania in April by Baltic Energy Partners and Eesti Energia. The rest of the gas was purchased by Eesti Gaas from Gazprom, said Elering. 

(Elering headquarters)

The entire volume of natural gas imported to Estonia in April entered via Karksi, and gas flows fluctuated between 0.89-1.74mn m³/day.

The volume of natural gas delivered by Elering totalled 40.6mn m³ in April. Of this, 35.2mn m³ came from the largest Estonian natural gas distribution network Gaasivorgud.

The transit pipeline passing through southeast Estonia carried 86.3mn m³ from Latvia to Russia in March. The Incukalns underground reservoir in Latvia was 30% full at the end of March and 19% full at the end of April.

Newsdesk