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Lithuania might have to turn to Belarus for energy this winter despite blockading energy sources.
Written by Paul Antonopoulos, independent geopolitical analyst
The Latvian gas transmission system operator AS Conexus Baltic Grid Gas warned that reserves in the Inčukalns underground storage facility, the largest in the Baltic States, may run out halfway through the heating season. With this in mind, the Baltic countries will probably have to look for alternative energy sources over the winter, most likely Russian or Belarussian.
Head of the Conexus Corporate Strategy division, Jānis Eisaks, said: “Let’s assume this winter turns out to be like the last. Given the risk of high prices or price differences, it may also be a situation that Inčukalns is emptied by January.”
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian energy giant Gazprom received a third of the shares of the Inčukalns underground storage facility, sparing no effort to maintain its assets abroad. Last year, Russia’s portion was ousted so that Latvia could be in line with the EU’s Third Energy Package. Due to this, a part of Gazprom’s share was bought out by Latvian energy company Augstsprieguma tīkls. It also acquired shares in the facility from Uniper and Itera Latvija, thus establishing control over the Conexus Baltic Grid. In this way, the main condition to receive certification from the Latvian Public Utilities Commission was met – Gazprom should not directly or indirectly control Conexus Baltic Grid operations.
Although gas in Inčiukalnis can be depleted by January next year, it is recalled that Baltic countries already faced a similar problem in 2018. The problem in 2018 did not arise due to a lack of natural gas, but due to insufficient pressure in the storage facilities.
Just as in 2018, today’s energy crisis is not because of some malevolent act by Russia, but rather because of Europe’s own delay with the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and the unusually prolonged cold and frost that continued well into April last winter season. In addition to the Nord Stream 2 delay and the prolonged winter, market participants looking for easy profit began to actively withdraw gas from the Inčukalns storage facility. For example, extremely large gas flows went to neighboring Lithuania from Latvia. This amounted to 2.4 TWh in just three months, a historical record.
The Inčukalns gas storage facility was exhausted from the 2020-2021 heating season. Gas prices did not fall, but instead rose after the heating season. Due to these factors, Uldis Bariss, chairman of the Conexus board, noted with concern that the energy market has been very volatile this year.
In Lithuania, gas consumption remained at 2020 levels, but their supply to other countries decreased. From January to June, 0.6 TWh was transferred to Latvia, which is 78% less than a year ago.
Nemunas Biknius, CEO of Lithuania’s Amber Grid, claimed that with rising emission prices, European industry is seeking to replace natural gas and coal fire with lower CO2 emissions sources. As a result, the Inčukalns gas storage facility is not in prime condition ahead of the new heating season. Conexus fears that the facility will be empty by January 2022, with only small strategic reserves remaining due to the government’s regulations on the supply of gas to consumers during an energy crisis.
According to Eisaks, pumping gas into underground storage is not convenient now as traders are trying to sell it immediately for massive profits. “Each additional megawatt-hour bought by traders and stored in Inčukalns could lose 30 euros next spring,” he warned.
Under such conditions, the Baltic countries will have to urgently look for alternative energy sources, likely electricity imports. Latvia had to do this last winter and imported 473.4 GWh of electricity from Russia in January.
The free flow of electricity through the BRELL energy ring is hindered by the Lithuanian system operator Litgrid, which on September 15 unilaterally limited the maximum transmission capacity on the Belarus border. This was a massive annoyance to Latvia and Estonia, especially as it is clear that Lithuania intends to maintain a boycott against the Belarussian nuclear power plant (BelNPP). Latvia described Litgrid’s actions as technically unfounded and the country promised to make a complaint to the European Commission against their neighbor.
The Latvian concern is real as the beginning of the most difficult heating season is close. If it is another frosty and prolonged winter like in the previous season, the Baltic countries will likely have to rely on imported electricity from Russia and Belarus. Therefore, the latest blockade of the BelNPP by Lithuania took place at the wrong time as the country might need to turn to this energy source if gas runs out in parts of the Baltics by January, as predicted by Latvian energy authorities.
Oh no, crazy Russophobic baltic nazis bashing Russia 24/7 may run out of Russian gas…
How sad…
I hope Russia tells them to ask the Americans for gas.
Than you
Let Lavatory flush more often… trap the natural gas.. use it. Zio Jews are full of it. Hope Russia and Belarus let them freeze… Their zio US friends will come to help
We do that in Denmark. It pays off. We also burn all garbage into heating and electricity, but that will decline by better recycling – fx plastic will be reused.
Ignorant leadership from multiple eastern euro nations.
Having problems understanding the new reality? All of you idiots have been permanently replaced starting with ukronazi run ukraine. Learn your lesson well this winter.
Shame inocent people will pay the price for the Nazi thickheads.
Unfortunately, what the average person needs to understand why they live in poverty. I also wish the conditions were different.
Those are not innocent if they dont change to the better. They can get much better from EU and at least copy the good parts. We will help them. We already do help them.
Fantastic. The globalists urge everybody not to use ready energy because of some climate hoax (CO2 is dangerous!). And they go along. Yes, there will be schadenfreude on the part of Russia, white and otherwise. However, Latvia counted too much on the US empire. It makes sense to be on reasonable terms with your neighbours… and that’s not the US.
That makes no sense at all. Their problems are they are very slow for needed changes even they are Ourr close neighbors to fx Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.
naming it as USA is highly incorrect. We as Nato has some few helping troops there as well as they are given weapons for free or almist free. he weapons are not old crap.
I will remind You that the EU economy is much bigger then the Russian one. It also has not collapsed and has grown since 1991 – well having ups and down too as kapitalisme has as build in.
of course it is bigger, its cca 0.5 billion people economy, the only difference is that EU is in decline.
Karma is a Bitch, The hostile russophobe Baltics did it to themselfs. Let us not forget the Baltics + Poles were and still are the main poisonous forces within the EU which wage a still ongoing WAR against NS2 on behest of their US Pimps and they were as well instrumental in the Regime-Change/Color-Revolution + ‘Coup d’État’ Attempt against the Belarus Goverment and also in the plotting of the Assassination of Lukaschenko, fortunately they failed miserably.
Thats right. The hostilities counts too making minus both ways.
Those countriews as well as many other parts of Russia are taken from others. The keep seemes to be forgotten. The Tzars collapsed just as the Communisme. None of them reformed them to stay alive in the real world.
There also is no nazisme the next 1000 years. You talk those up for internal matters but alos make those countries less friendly to Yourself.
Those countries has every right and very good reasons to dislike Russia. They were taken by Molov-Ribbentrop and after WW2 all the way west of Berlin.
ALL of these power “shortages” are ENTIRELY created by the energy “policies” being pushed onto the world’s governments by so called non-government agencies and foundations.
These policies are not following genuine Science but following “theories” that cannot be Scientifically proven or validated using standard every day protocols.
These are DELIBERATE policies to enforce CONTROL over people under the guise of climate change and to extract further creative taxation methods.
China and the rest of the world should take these politically motivated policy “goals” and set them aside as interesting theories but Economically HARMFUL to their national economies and interests.
Technology and Creativity have a keen way of making things better without these fraudulent “shortages” being created by bad policies.
The automobile I drive today gets 300% better fuel economy than the first car I drove only 40 years ago: it runs 90% LOWER emissions as well. Some vehicles travel 500% further on a gallon of gasoline than identical size transportation of 40 years ago!
The climate of the Earth CHANGES regularly: the fossil records prove that, and by most indicators, were hardly in any change at all, except by hype and possible man made changes caused by “Geo-Engineering”.
Only a Fool proceeds with attempting to “dim” the atmosphere and not expect harmful consequences which cannot be predicted. Let’s call a halt to such EXPERIMENTS and see what the REAL status of our atmosphere is, only THEN can we make GENUINE observations.
Their piano for melodies for elctricity and heating should learn to play better on all levels.
A lot is wasted by lack of insulation in buildings and the pipeline supply for them.
They do have a windy coastline but only the coastline.
Im sure they will be helped again by EU, but they have to change a few things very much to be a more independent country. I will remind the writer of the article, that the delay of the Nordstream 2 is no EU thing at all.
USA is the main contributor. But Denmark is too, but the main reason for us is eaxact as I just wrote. Using fossil gas as usual is an investment, which delay the change in none or much less fossils, which also is an important plan for Europe and for that matter the rest of the world.
Now we have to finance electric cars too. Its a kind of stupidity to make gas and oil into electricity.
The only + + for Latvia og today is the global warming making less need for warming up in the wintertime:(
loool, these bootlicking NWO muppets may learn a thing or two.
Eat plenty of beans and start fartin’ away Latvians!!!!