This year will reveal the actual natural gas consumption in Latvia, as LETA was told by natural gas distribution and storage operator Conexus Baltic Grid (Conexus) board chairman Uldis Bariss.
He explained that 2023 may have been the last when natural gas consumption in Latvia went down. 2024 will reveal whether natural gas consumption in the country could recover and by how much.
“We hope last year will have been the last year of decline. Last year the decline was generally small. On top of that, last year was still influenced by high gas prices. From this point of view, 2024 will be a real test year. We will see if gas consumption could recover and to what extend,” said Bariss, adding that a drop in natural gas consumption was observed in the entire Baltic region.
Bariss said the Inčukalns underground gas storage facility currently holds 15.8 TWh of natural gas. In 2022, which was the first heating season after the start of the war in Ukraine, the gas storage facility had 13.1 TWh of gas.
“Last year was very good for us in the sense that the gas storage facility had a record volume of gas – 21.7 TWh. This is the biggest volume in the past five years. This means we can feel safe enough,” added Bariss.
Conexus board chairman also stressed that this year Latvia will have the gas and the necessary pressure to take it out of the facility.
Regarding the damage to Balticconnector gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland, Bariss said that this does not impact Latvia in any direct way. It was a challenge for Finnish neighbours, because they had to reorganise their supplies to the liquefied gas terminal Inko. This was done successfully, and gas supplies continue in Estonia without problems.
Bariss said it is currently difficult to say if the incident with Balticconnector could lower the trust in Inčukalns underground gas storage facility, because even if some technical malfunction happens, it will still be possible to supply consumers with gas. “The lesson we can learn from this incident is that we cannot rely on a single consumer and one source. This is how long-term security risks appear,” he added.
He also stressed that Latvia is in a very good situation, because the country has access to multiple sources. “Finland’s experience demonstrates how important it is to have several gas suppliers,” said Bariss.
As for the role of natural gas in the future, Bariss said if there are plans to replace gas with something else in ten years from now, construction of infrastructure should commence now.
“Of course we should develop energy production from renewable resources on a much larger scale. However, we have a long way to go to get to the point when we can generate hydrogen on a large scale and it being economically viable,” said Bariss.
Also read: Latvian Minister of Transport orders full train procurement audit amid numerous problems with new trains
Follow us on Facebook and X!
Conexus: this year will reveal the actual natural gas consumption in Latvia
