LNG

Denmark and Sweden, whose electricity systems have been interconnected for more than 100 years, have signed a natural gas supply agreement to be implemented in case of emergencies with the Danes pledging to supply Swedish essential services with gas.

The Nordic nations have entered into a “solidarity agreement “ on gas supplies signed by the Director General of the Swedish Energy Agency, Robert Andrén, and the Director of the Energy Agency of Denmark, Kristoffer Böttzauw.

“The agreement will come into force if an emergency situation arises, where the energy crisis escalates and gas shortages occur in the coming winters,” said a statement.

“In that case, Denmark will contribute to securing the supply of the protected customers in Sweden. This applies, for example, to households, hospitals, emergency services and other critical functions,” according to the agreement.

Small-scale LNG

While Sweden is a small-scale LNG importer of around 400,000 tonnes per annum for bunkering fuel and other uses, Denmark has the key pipeline links to North Sea natural gas supplies.

Andrén, the Sweden’s Energy Agency head, explained that their energy systems were complex and connected to several countries.

“The agreement shows the strength of international cooperation, especially for security of supply, where the benefits of cooperation are obvious,” added Andrén.

The backbone of the regional gas infrastructure is the Danish transmission system, which transport natural gas from the North Sea to distribution networks on land.

Danish state-owned firm Energinet operates the transmission system in Denmark and the system is also the route to Germany and Sweden and to the two Danish gas storage facilities, which are consolidated in a separate company owned by Energinet.

“The agreement we have signed reflects the great work and cooperation that has taken place in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine - not just in the Nordic region, but throughout the European union,” said Kristoffer Böttzauw, director of the Danish Energy Agency.

Team work

“No country in the EU or the Nordics can solve the energy supply crisis alone. So we must cooperate and be in solidarity with our neighbours - both when it comes to supply chains and energy savings,” added Böttzauw.

The Danish and Swedish sides noted that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has strained gas supplies across Europe causing large fluctuations in energy prices.

“Although electricity and gas prices have fallen since the summer of 2022 and the European gas storages have a very high degree of filling, there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure security of supply,” they said.

“The solidarity agreement shows the effect of the strong Nordic cooperation to ensure security of supply, where both countries benefit from close cooperation in both the electricity and gas fields,” they added. 

Nov 4 (LNGJ) - The Baltic Pipe natural gas pipeline link between Norway and Poland was receiving steady flows of gas via the expanded Nybro gas terminal in Western Jutland in Denmark. The Danish Nybro terminal was receiving 5.8 million cubic metres of gas flows on November 4, according to data from Gassco, the Norwegian state-owned pipelines and terminals operator.

   The Norwegian gas can now be sent to Poland by Denmark’s gas network operator Energinet after the Nybro terminal start-up. The gas in the terminal is supplied from the Norwegian gas pipeline Europipe II in the North Sea. The gas is cleaned and the gas pressure is reduced at the Nybro terminal for onward transportation.

Gaz-System and Energinet, the gas transport operators in Poland and Denmark respectively, have both taken a decision to invest in the Baltic Pipe development overseen by Gassco, the Norwegian natural gas pipeline operator providing one of the main competitors to LNG shipments and Russian gas.