New natural gas year begins at Klaipėdos nafta terminal
KN showed extremely high operating results last year
On 1 October, the new gas year of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal operated by KN (AB Klaipėdos nafta) begins, which is welcomed by the terminal with extremely high operating results: during the last year of natural gas (until 30 September), the largest amount of natural gas was regasified and supplied to the Lithuanian natural gas system to date – 23.9 TWh, when, compared to last year, it amounted to 14 TWh.
“The amount of regasification is a significant indicator, which is a record this year and means that the LNG terminal, which once abolished the status of Lithuania as an energy island, in its sixth year of operation fully serves as a regional infrastructure for third parties. In other words, terminal customers can deliver LNG from anywhere and at market prices. In this way, natural gas consumers are able to pay the market price for gas as well. Without an LNG terminal as an alternative to pipeline gas from Russia, this would not be possible. Our calculations show that during the gas year 2020, more than 70% of the total amount of natural gas consumption was supplied from the LNG terminal to Lithuanian natural gas consumers“, Darius Šilenskis, CEO of KN, emphasizes the role of the LNG terminal in the Lithuanian energy system.
According to him, the customers of the LNG terminal (5 companies) took advantage of the favorable situation in the LNG market this year, when the European natural gas storage facilities became full due to the demand shock caused by the COVID-19 virus and the warmer-than-usual winter, which also led to a decrease in LNG prices.
“As the Klaipeda LNG terminal operates on the basis of third party access and commercial clients can use it’s services, its use directly correlates with the price of LNG in global markets, just like other terminals, for example, Zeebrugge in Belgium, Gate in the Netherlands and others. Global prices have little effect on those terminals where supply options are limited by consumption or long-term alternative contracts, for example, Świnoujście,” explains D. Šilenskis.
During the last year of natural gas, even 74 loading operations were performed at the LNG terminal, that is the number of gas carriers who visited the LNG terminal, which is more than twice as much as in the 2019 natural gas year, when 33 gas carriers arrived. Total of 3.5 million cubic meters of LNG were delivered during 2020 gas year, compared with 2.2 million cubic meters in the natural gas comparison in 2019 gas year.
“The increase in the number of gas carriers (+ 124%) was determined by the commercial decisions of LNG terminal users and for the truly competitive prices. As many as three LNG shipments came from the U.S. in the 2020 natural gas year. We are waiting for another cargo from the U.S. at the start line of the new natural gas year – it will be delivered next week. This shows that the gas liquefaction and LNG logistics infrastructure being developed in the U.S. increases the competitiveness and liquidity of LNG as an energy source. This is certainly beneficial for countries with LNG import and regasification infrastructure. It is gratifying that Lithuania has been on the list of such countries for six years“, the Head of KN comments.
D. Šilenskis points out that the beginning of the gas year is also positive – this year and during the preliminary LNG terminal capacity allocation procedure, significantly more LNG terminal capacity was reserved for the gas year starting on 1 October – even 8.4 TWh.
According to the Head of KN, this year is impressive not only in terms of the volume of operations of the great LNG terminal, but also a significant breakthrough in the use of LNG is being felt: “The customer of the LNG reloading station became the Polish PGNiG, the vessel bunkering operations in the port of Klaipėda has started, LNG as an alternative fuel also found itself in the perspective of the State. EUR 2.34 million of support has been provided from the DNA Plan of the Future Economy for the installation of LNG filling points, the Alternative Fuels Act is being considered, which provides guidelines in favor of the use of LNG, and additional support is also provided in the Climate Change Program. All this shows that the emergence of LNG infrastructure six years ago has enabled us to achieve an independent, more sustainable and more climate-neutral economy. Reflecting the emissions of gas and comparing them with the emissions of conventional, popular fuels and energy production, LNG and natural gas are clearly key energy sources for a climate-neutral economy by 2050.“
The natural gas year runs from 1 October to 30 September.
