According to Elering, the decrease in imports was attributable to the average air temperature being warmer by one degree Celsius this March compared to the same month last year.

The biggest amount of natural gas imported into Estonia within a 24-hour period last month was 2.9 millin cubic meters; the smallest amount was 1.3 million cubic meters. Imports from Lithuania accounted for 6.2 percent of natural gas imports.

The volume of domestic transmission service rendered by Elering decreased by 3.1 percent year over year to 58 million cubic meters. However, the reserve capacity of the transmission pipeline increased by 11.9 percent on year to 4.8 million cubic meters at the end of the month.

No traffic took place in the transit pipeline passing through Southeastern Estonia in March. In March 2016, 83.3 millin cubic meters of gas was exported from Latvia to Russia by that route.

The average price of natural gas traded on the Lithuanian GET Baltic gas exchange was €20.95 per megawatt-hour last month, while the average price on the Finnish Kaasuporssi was €19.70 per megawatt-hour.

In March, 140 million cubic meters of natural gas was extracted from the Inčukalns underground gas storage facility in Latvia and 19 percent of the capacity of the storage facility was utilized at the end of the month.