The gas company lowered the price of gas to €0.84 per meter in a flexible package for domestic consumers in February, and for the first time since the state began compensating a portion of the gas price last fall, the price of gas fell below the compensation level.

Starting April, gas will be 12 percent cheaper, or €0.74 per cubic meter inclusive of VAT.

Margus Kaasik, chairman of the management board of Eesti Gaas, said that there is only good news regarding the global gas pricing: the weather is warmer than usual, the tanks are full and the switch to Western LNG has been made. In general, gas pricing is not as ambiguous and unpredictable at the moment.

"We cannot be ruled out that the market price of gas will remain between €50 and €60 per megawatt-hour for a longer period of time; it is estimated that this trend will continue until next spring," Kaasik said.

"This will give our customers more certainty and also the opportunity to return to gas for those customers who have been using other fuels in the interim."

Eesti Gaas has agreements in place to order 10 gas tankers by autumn this year. Three deliveries will be made to the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda in winter and seven to the Finnish port of Inkoo in spring-summer. Eesti Gaas ordered the first shipment of US LNG to the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda in mid-January. The next ship arrives in Klaipeda in March.

Last year, Eesti Gaas transported five gas tankers from Norway and the United States to Klaipeda.

The price of gas per megawatt-hour on the Dutch gas exchange TTF continued to drop at the start of the week, falling below €45 to €43.

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