If necessary, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland will be able to use Inčukalns underground gas storage facility to store their national strategic reserves. This is determined by the amendments to the Energy Law approved by the Saeima on Thursday, 12 September, in the second and final reading. 

The underground gas storage has become driving force behind the development of the regional natural gas market and diversification of supply routes, the authors of the amendments point out. Solidarity agreements on gas supply have already been concluded between the Baltic States, and these amendments to the law will ensure more effective cooperation, the authors of the draft law in the Ministry of Climate and Energy explained at the meeting of the Economic, Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Policy Committee responsible for the progress of the draft law in the Saeima. 

The changes also provide that the tariffs set by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will not be applied to the operator of the Inčukalns underground gas storage facility from 1 May 2026. The PUK will approve the terms of use of the Inčukalns underground gas storage facility, according to which the single natural gas transmission and storage system operator will conduct an auction of certain storage capacity products and fees for natural gas storage system services. The auction procedure will be developed and published by the system operator on its website. 

The previous regulation established a regulated approach to the Inčukalns underground gas storage facility and affected the ability of the single natural gas transmission and storage system operator to improve the conditions of its use in accordance with the rapidly changing situation in the natural gas market. It also affected the possibilities to implement stable long-term financial planning, says the explanatory note to the draft law. 

In response to MPs’ questions, the unified natural gas transmission and storage system operator previously indicated that 25 to 30 per cent of the capacity of Inčukalns underground natural gas storage facility is used for local consumption. The operator also pointed out that the consumption of natural gas in Latvia continues to decrease, and said that in the future it would be possible to auction eight terawatt-hours of the total capacity of the storage facility. 

The PUK has previously indicated to MPs that it will monitor the market and adapt the rules to avoid risks of competition infringements.

Saeima Press Service