Such testing was possible due to an increase in gas consumption amid a cold snap, CEO of gas transmission system operator Amber Grid.
"Load testing of the terminal is under way, given the suitable weather conditions and the completion of a gas pipeline between Klaipeda and Kursenai," Saulius Bilys said.
Vytautas Cekanavicius, CEO of gas trade company Litgas, told that a tanker, which had delivered this year's first LNG cargo from Norway's Statoil to the LNG facility, arrived at the port this week, instead of February, due to an increase in gas consumption.
According to the data made available by Amber Grid, regasification volumes at the terminal soared twofold in January: supply from the facility rose from approximately 32,000 MWh per day between Jan. 5 and 12 to 72,000–79,000 MWh between January 13 and 19, which was the largest volume in the history of the facility's operations.
However, the flow of gas from Belarus decreased substantially in January. As reported by Amber Grid, actual flow from the Kotlovka gas metering station fell to 115,000 MWh on Wednesday, Jan. 20, from 204,000 MWh on Jan. 1.
The flow of gas from Belarus had to be reduced while increasing LNG regasification volumes due to technical processes, told Cekanavicius.
The gas pipeline between Klaipeda and Kursenai, which was completed last October, put in place the conditions required to supply the maximum volume of Statoil's gas from the terminal to the national gas grid.
