Latvia Endorses Limited Gas Market Opening

The political council of Latvia’s ruling coalition has agreed this week to expedite liberalization of the country’s industrial gas market, allowing energy companies Latvenergo, Rigas Siltums and Daugavpils Siltums to buy natural gas from third-parties. Latvijas Gaze, the Baltic country’s sole, Gazprom-co-owned gas supplier, insists it has monopoly of the gas supply until 2017, by when Latvia is expected to unbundle its gas market.

Latvenergo reiterated mid-January that it wanted to purchase a tentative gas delivery from Lithuania’s Klaipeda LNG Terminal, but the request will likely be turned down until the dispute is settled.