Gas shipment for next heating season arrives at port of Klaipeda

TALLINN - Norwegian energy group Equinor delivered a shipment of gas for the next heating season to Elenger at the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda on Tuesday aboard the tanker Arctic Aurora.

The LNG will then be bunkered at the Independence floating terminal, from where it will be transported through Lithuanian and Latvian pipelines to the Inculkans underground gas storage facility in Latvia.

"For us, spring and the arrival of warmer weather mark the start of preparations for the next heating season. We import the majority of next year's gas by ship from Norway and the United States to the Finnish and Baltic region during the spring months, utilizing both the Inkoo port in Finland and the Klaipeda port in Lithuania," said Margus Kaasik, chairman of the management board of Elenger Group.

"Gas availability is good and deliveries are on schedule - sufficient quantities are reaching Europe, and the process of filling storage facilities has begun everywhere. Furthermore, we anticipate that next season, local green gas plants in Estonia will be able to produce approximately 15 percent of the gas we consume," Kaasik added.

Elenger's first shipment for the upcoming season, transported from the United States on the tanker Marvel Swallow, arrived at the Inkoo port in Finland at the end of March. The next delivery is scheduled for the Inkoo port in May. In total, three LNG vessels will arrive in Inkoo and two in Klaipeda during the spring, with additional deliveries planned for the autumn.

Elenger started using the small-scale LNG terminal in Klaipeda, Lithuania, back in 2017. In 2019, the company signed an agreement with Klaipedos Nafta and subsequently began to purchase LNG and feed it into the natural gas grid via the Klaipeda Independence floating terminal.

Elenger is the largest privately-owned energy company in the Finnish-Baltic region, operating across the entire energy value chain, from trading and production to delivery to the end consumer. The company serves over 450,000 customers.

Elenger supplies its customers with natural gas of Western origin and renewable biomethane, and manages gas networks in Estonia, Latvia, and Poland totaling 9,000 kilometers. The company also sells electricity, including green electricity from its own solar parks, and is actively engaged in international energy trading. The group employs over 1,000 people. Elenger is owned by the investment company Infortar, which is listed on the Nasdaq Tallinn Baltic Main List.