The cold weather conditions of the last few weeks have significantly increased gas consumption in Finland. During the past autumn, gas consumption in Finland has been at a level of 20-25 GWh/day, but the cold weather and high electricity prices have significantly increased gas use during December to a level of 45-50 GWh/day.
Due to the persisting cold weather and high electricity prices, this week the use of gas may increase close to the available entry capacity, which is approximately 60 GWh/day taking into account the combined entry capacities of Balticconnector and Hamina LNG entry points. Thus, Gasgrid Finland as a transmission system operator with system responsibility has published an UMM (Urgent Market Message) emphasizing the importance of minimizing the commercial imbalances of market participants, so that the use of gas corresponds to commercially purchased gas volumes umm.getbaltic.com/organisation-umm-list/3419.
The gas system in Finland is currently in balance and the market operates normally on a market basis, but Gasgrid Finland urges market participants to pay special attention to the balance of gas use and acquirement in the coming weeks. The floating LNG terminal arriving during the second half of December will increase the entry capacity to the Finnish gas system, increasing the entry capacity to more than double compared to the current level. You can find gas market information on Gasgrid Finland’s website gasgrid.fi/en/gas-market/market-information/ and ENTSOG’s transparency platform transparency.entsog.eu/#/map.