Latvia has no shortage of natural gas - Economics Ministry

RIGA - There is no shortage of natural gas stocks in Latvia, Edijs Seicans, the Economics Ministry's undersecretary of state for energy told members of the Saeima Sustainable Development Committee. 

The ministry official indicated that around 17.3 terawatt hours (TWh) of natural gas have already been pumped into the Contexus Baltic Grid (Conexus) unified natural gas transmission and storage operator's underground gas storage facility in Incukalns, which is 80 percent of the facility's capacity. Meanwhile, volumes booked at the storage facility is 18.9 TWh. 

Seicans said that although the gas stocks available at Incukalns are sufficient, in the case of an especially cold and long winter or other unexpected events, Latvia would not be left without natural gas because gas can be received by pipes from Finland and liquefied gas can be purchased from Lithuania. 

MP Janis Dombrava (National Alliance) said at the committee meeting that he is less worried the possibility of Latvia running out of natural gas but more about the price Latvia might have to pay for emergency gas purchases because the exchange price natural gas price has been surging lately. 

This year, gas prices has been rising in Europe amid growing demand, which is also affecting the amount of gas stored at the Incukalns underground facility.