There is a sufficient gas quantity available for this heating season. There are no concerns of gas shortage by the end of the heating season. There is enough gas for the JSC “Latvijas Gāze”, the JSC “Latvenergo”, and other market players alike. In the next three months there is nothing to worry about at all. Work is currently in progress to ensure natural gas injection in summer for the next heating season. The possibility of not receiving gas is out of question – in one way or another, Latvia will receive gas in the summer season.

The Latvian gas supply system was built during the Soviet era, and the infrastructure is vast for the needs of Latvia and technically stable. The connections with Finland and Poland built in the recent years make it theoretically possible to diversify gas supply, but, of course, so far natural gas has been essentially supplied from Russia.

As concerns the need to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in Latvia, it would mean enormous costs that reflect in the gas price. In theory, another liquefied natural gas terminal is possible, but all consumers would then pay for it, as the hundreds of millions invested in the new infrastructure would weigh heavily on the gas price.

At the same time, investments are needed in the pipeline system between Lithuania and Latvia to increase the pipeline capacity, as the Klaipeda terminal’s capacity is already big. The world cannot function under the current gas prices, so the market should calm down unless some emergency situation occurs.

The Klaipeda liquefied gas terminal has a capacity of 40 terawatt hours (TWh) per season, while Lithuania consumes 20 TWh, Latvia – 10 TWh, and Estonia – 5 TWh per season. Last year, gas from Russia accounted for 20% of gas discharged at the Klaipeda terminal.

On behalf of the JSC “Latvijas Gāze”,
Chairman of the Board
Aigars Kalvītis