Compared to May last year, the average price has fallen by 67%. This decrease in prices in the Baltic-Finnish region is due to the significant drop in price of gas across Europe due to the rapid filling of storage facilities. According to Gas Infrastructure Europe, storage in Europe is now 69% full, almost a fifth above the previous five-year average.
After the end of the winter heating season, market participants remain active on the GET Baltic exchange. In May, 515 GWh of gas was traded, or 13% more than in the same period last year (416 GWh). Almost half of the volume traded on the exchange was purchased on the common Latvian-Estonian market area (40%), while the remaining 36% and 24% were purchased in Lithuania and Finland respectively. The volume traded on the monthly market amounted to 3 GWh in May.
Strengthening the Baltic and Finnish gas markets and promoting integration into European gas trading markets, on 16 May, Lithuania’s gas transmission system operator Amber Grid and the European Energy Exchange (EEX) sealed the acquisition under which EEX will take 66 percent of the shares in the regional gas exchange GET Baltic. As a result, the gas exchange operating in the three Baltic countries and Finland are now part of the EEX Group. Amber Grid will hold the remaining 34 percent of the shares and will continue to support the further development of the gas business in the dynamic Baltic Sea region.
It is planned that in the longer term, GET Baltic’s short- and long-term exchange products will be harmonized with other European gas markets by trading under the license of the German exchange EEX, using the EEX trading infrastructure and the clearing services of European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC). It is also planned to provide market participants in the region with access to all other European gas markets operated by EEX.