Latvia's Gas Grid is Unbundled

Shareholders in Latvian gas utility, Latvijas Gaze, on December 22 voted to hive off its infrastructure as a separate company in conformity with EU rules.

The resultant new Latvia gas transmission and storage operator is called Conexus Baltic Grid.

Conexus Baltic Grid said in a regulatory filing that its initial shareholders are Gazprom 34.1%, Marguerite Gas 29.1%, Germany's Uniper 18.3%, US-registered Russian gas trader Itera 16% and others 2.5%. Marguerite Gas is a EU-backed investment fund. The other three firms had been Latvijas Gaze shareholders for several years. The new gas grid and storage operator's website will go live at www.Conexus.lv in January 2017. 

Incukalns gas storage facility in Latvia (Photo credit: Latvia public broadcaster Leta /  Ieva Cika)

It's believed that a key Conexus asset will be the Incukalns underground gas storage facility, which has a working gas storage capacity of 2.32bn m³ . This has enabled Gazprom in particular to assure deliveries throughout the winter to the Baltic states. The new unbundled operator will however also have to provide some access to other supplies, such as regasified LNG imported through neighbouring Lithuania.

Mark Smedley