Russian natural gas no longer entering Baltics

RIGA/TALLINN. April 4 (Interfax/BNS) - Natural gas from Russia has not been coming into the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia since the beginning of April, Uldis Bariss, chairman of the board of natural gas system operator JSC Conexus Baltic Grid (Conexus), told Latvijas Radio.

Two suppliers deliver gas, Klaipeda LNG terminal and the Incukalns underground gas storage facility, Bariss said. Russia's announcement that the natural gas it delivers may only be paid for in Russian rubles was a cue that supplies from Russia need to be sharply reduced, as they can no longer be relied upon, he said.

"If there were still doubts whether Russian supplies can be relied upon, then these events show clearly that in terms of reliability, it's essentially no longer possible to depend on them. In terms of the state's energy security, the issue of building a second LNG terminal needs to be resolved, the sooner the better," Bariss said.

There are uncharacteristically large amounts of gas for this time of the year in the Incukalns UGS facility at present, 7.6 terawatt-hours, Bariss said. This is almost as much as Latvia and Lithuania consume together during the winter, and therefore, there is no reason for worry in the coming months, he said.

The Incukalns UGS facility started the pumping season this year on February 26, significantly earlier than usual, in order to guarantee gas reserves.

A new arrangement for payment of gas supplies from Russia has gone into effect in April based on a presidential decree, making it mandatory to convert the contract currency into rubles through Gazprombank . European buyers of gas from Gazprom are currently maintaining practically the same levels of demand for gas.