A regulation of the Council of Europe has established an obligation for member states without the required gas reservoirs to store at least 15 per cent of the gas required to cover their annual consumption in terminals located in other member states.
By the order of the Government of the Republic, the Estonian Stockpiling Agency established strategic natural gas stocks in 2022 and 2023 with an energetic value that corresponds to one terawatt-hour.
The Natural Gas Act regulates the management and release of the strategic natural gas stocks.
Estonian natural gas stocks consist of three layers, and in the case of supply difficulties, they are released one after another when each previous layer is depleted.
Commercial stocks of gas sellers
All Estonian gas sellers have commercial stocks and supply channels of gas to service the agreements that they have concluded with their clients. When the commercial stocks of a gas seller are insufficient for servicing its clients, they first try to purchase more gas from the market.
The commercial stocks of companies are owned by market participants and the decisions regarding the sale and purchase of commercial stocks of gas are made by the gas sellers.
Strategic natural gas stocks
The strategic gas stocks managed by the Estonian Stockpiling Agency are released as a supporting measure for the alleviation of supply difficulties when market participants can no longer acquire gas through regular supply chains and the commercial stocks are about to be exhausted.
The strategic natural gas stocks have been bought out and are owned by the state.
The precise procedure for the use of the strategic natural gas stocks is established by a regulation of the Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure. The government of Estonia or the Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure make decisions regarding the release of the strategic natural gas stocks.
Stocks of a gas network operator
In addition to the commercial stocks of companies and the national strategic gas stocks established by the ESPA, AS Elering, the system operator of the Estonian gas market, holds stocks to ensure a gas supply to protected consumer groups (domestic households and district heating boiler houses operating on gas).
The gas stocks held by AS Elering are released after the commercial stocks of companies and the national strategic gas stocks managed by the ESPA are exhausted. AS Elering makes decisions regarding the release of stocks for protected consumers. The precise principles of this process are stipulated in the Natural Gas Act.
The strategic natural gas stocks managed by the Estonian Stockpiling Agency have an energetic value of one terawatt-hour (TWh), covering about 30 per cent of the average annual gas consumption or six weeks of consumption during a heating period.
In 2022, the government of Estonia ordered the Estonian Stockpiling Agency to acquire a quantity of gas for the stockpile corresponding to about 20 per cent of the annual gas consumption in Estonia or one month’s consumption during a heating period. Therefore, the government set an even more ambitious goal for the volume of gas stocks than was required by the European Commission (15 per cent of the annual gas consumption).
In Estonia, the consumption of natural gas has dropped considerably over the last few years – in 2023, it was only 3.4 TWh instead of the earlier 5 TWh. Due to the reduction in the Estonian gas consumption, the volume of the strategic gas stocks has increased when calculated in average daily consumption.
As there are no facilities for storing natural gas in Estonia, our strategic natural gas stocks are located in an underground reservoir in Inčukalns, Latvia.
The Inčukalns gas storage facility is operated by Conexus Baltic Grid AS, a Latvian gas system operator, and the Estonian Stockpiling Agency pays a service fee to the company for the storage of the strategic natural gas stocks.
The Inčukalns gas storage facility is the only one of its kind in the Baltics.
During the summer months with lower consumption, the gas is pumped under high pressure into the porous natural soil about 700–800 metres underground, and during autumn and winter, it is transported from there to clients in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland.
The Estonian Stockpiling Agency collects a stockpiling fee on the released quantities of gas from network operators, who, in turn, collect it from the end consumers of gas.
The amount of the stockpiling fee is established by the Minister of Climate and the current stockpiling fee rate is 0.73 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh). Value added tax is added to the stockpiling fee rate.
The largest cost to be covered by the stockpiling fee is related to the storage of the stocks at the Inčukalns gas storage facility. When the storage costs change, the amount of the stockpiling fee must be adjusted accordingly.
Considering that the fee paid by a gas consumer for gas, network service, and the excise duty for natural gas is about 100 €/MWh, the stockpiling fee is under 1 per cent of the gas bill of a consumer.
For example, if a domestic consumer uses 9 MWh of gas annually, the annual stockpiling fee for gas paid by the consumer would be about 6,5 euros per year (9 MWh × €0.73 = €6.57). This ensures the consumer that the state has strategic natural gas stocks, which it can release in case of supply difficulties of natural gas, amounting to 1 TWh, or over 3 times the average monthly consumption.
Starting from 1 July 2024, the stockpiling fee will include management fees for the LNG jetty at Pakrineeme. The development of the Port of Pakrineeme will ensure Estonia’s capacity to receive floating storage regasification units (FSRUs) in crisis situations or when market players wish to bring additional gas into the region.
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Last updated: 30.12.2025
