The natural gas extraction season of Inčukalns Underground Gas Storage Facility has ended

Today, on 30 April, the natural gas extraction season of Inčukalns Underground Gas Storage Facility (Inčukalns UGS) will end. Operational information shows that 10.8 terawatt hours (TWh) of active natural gas have been extracted from the storage facility during it. Meanwhile, it is planned to start the natural gas injection season from tomorrow already.

In the season 2018/2019, 90% of the volume of active natural gas stored in the season 2017/2018 was actually stored. It was enough to meet the gas supply needs of Latvia and the nearest region.

In 2018, natural gas market players removed 10.8 TWh of natural gas from the storage facility, but the total accumulation of active natural gas at the beginning of the injection season was 13.506 TWh. 

This season, the largest natural gas volume of 115,414,071 kWh (kilowatt-hours), or 115 GWh (gigawatt hours), was extracted on 1 March when the air temperature remained low over a long period of time.

“Although the volume of natural gas stored in Inčukalns UGS last season is sufficient to ensure the energy stability and security of Latvia and the nearest region, it should be emphasised that the storage capacity is much higher. The total storage capacity is over 24 TWh, so the strategic use of the storage facility, when using it for natural gas reserves, is far from exhausted. I'm looking forward to the single natural gas market, which will start operating on 1 January 2020. I believe that the single market will increase the use of the storage facility on a wider scale,” emphasises Zane Kotāne, Chairperson of the Board of Conexus Baltic Grid.

On 1 May, Inčukalns UGS will start the natural gas injection season. For the 2019/2020 storage cycle, Customers are offered to purchase a market product, a grouped capacity product, a two-year grouped capacity product, and a virtual counter-flow product.