Lithuania braces for spike in gas transport cost
Lithuania's natural gas grid operator Amber Grid has secured regulatory approval to increase its gas transport tariff by 39% next year, bringing the charge to €1.39 ($1.49)/MWh, the company announced May 31.
Amber Grid said this year's tariff of around €1/MWh was significantly lower than average for the country. The 2023 increase will return gas pricing to roughly the same level as in 2021, when Amber Grid charged €1.40/MWh.
Lithuania's national energy regulator cleared the move on May 31. It comes after Lithuania has managed to cease Russian gas imports via Belarus, using its 5bn m3/year Klaipeda LNG terminal.
Klaipeda LNG's operator said March 17 it has no capacity for new LNG orders until September 2022. The terminal increasingly serves as a regional LNG hub for the Baltic states as well as Finland, exacerbating pressure on LNG prices. The launch on May 5 of a new interconnector has enabled Poland to tap Swinoujscie's supplies as well. On the following day, the first LNG cargo bound for Polish suppliers arrived at Klaipeda.
Initially, the Gas Interconnector Poland Lithuania will carry up to 1.9bn m3/year to Poland.