BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 18. The volumes of gas injected into the network by Italian Snam in 2021 amounted to a total of 75.77 billion cubic metres, an increase of 5.80 billion cubic metres compared to 2020 (+8.3 percent), Trend reports with reference to the company.
The growth was in line with the growth in the demand for natural gas, which in 2020 recorded a downturn due to the restrictive measures implemented to contain contagion by COVID19, and with greater recourse to the provision of storage.
The increase in the gas demand (76.25 billion cubic metres; +4.94 billion cubic metres, +6.9 percent compared with 2020), recorded in all sectors of use, is mainly attributable to the following: (i) the residential and tertiary sector (+2.03 billion cubic metres; +7.4 percent) due to temperatures which were harsher than in 2020 overall, and the recovery of consumption impacted by the lockdown measures implemented in 2020; (ii) the industrial sector (+1.70 billion cubic metres, of which around half was concentrated in the months of March and April; +10.4 percent) due to the recovery of industrial production following the marked fall sustained last year, following the lockdown measures in the months of March and April to contain contagion caused by COVID-19.
During the period January-November 2021, the industrial production index recorded a 12.4 percent growth compared to the same period in the previous year, completely recovering pre-COVID volumes; (iii) the thermoelectric sector (+1.53 billion cubic metres; +6.1 percent) due to an increase in the demand for electricity compared to 2020, as well as greater recourse to natural gas for electricity generation. These effects were partly offset by the increase in imports of electricity. The demand for gas in terms normalized by temperature, estimated at 74.85 billion cubic metres, recorded an increase of 3.24 billion cubic metres (+4.5 percent) compared to the corresponding value in 2020 (71.61 billion cubic metres), due to a progressive recovery of consumption in the sector that offset the reduction due to the progressive increase in energy efficiency measures and the modernization of heating plant with more efficient boilers.
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