Energy, Gas, Latvia, Legislation, Lithuania

BC's photo.

The agreement has been signed for a period until the spring of 2017.

Under the agreement, 100 cubic meters of natural gas will be pumped and stored at the Incukalns underground facility in 2015 and 2016 each, and later supplied to Lithuania during the heating season. The natural gas will be shipped to Incukalns from the Klaipeda Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal, which is still under construction at this moment.

Litgas is a company run by Lietuvos Energija, it was established in 2012.

At the moment, Incukalns underground liquefied gas storage facility stores gas reserves for Latvian, Estonian, Russian and Lithuanian gas supply companies.

In the summer, liquefied gas meant for consumers in Latvia is supplied directly from Russia's gas distribution system, and at the same time, part of this gas is pumped into the Incukalns underground gas storage facility. During the heating season, all natural gas consumed in Latvia is supplied from the Incukalns facility, which also supplies gas to the neighbor countries. Natural gas is pumped into the Incukalns facility from April to October each year, and pumped out from October to March or April.

The Incukalns facility was put into operation in 1968, the objective of the facility is to store natural gas necessary for the heating season, when natural gas consumption increases greatly and sufficient gas amounts cannot be supplied via gas pipelines from Siberia.

The floating gas storage facility in Lithuania's Klaipeda will have a capacity of 170,000 cubic meters.

Latvijas Gaze posted LVL 22.9 million in profit in 2012, compared to a profit of LVL 27.2 million in 2011.

The company's turnover in 2012 totaled LVL 427.4 million, 21% more than in 2011.

Latvijas Gaze majority shareholders are Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas International GmbH with 47.2% of shares, Russia's Gazprom with 34%, and Itera Latvija with 16%.