FRANKFURT: Germany’s January-August natural gas imports rose 19.5 percent from a year earlierwhile the cost rose 36.2 percent, buoyed by higher underlying crude oil prices, official data showed. The gas import bill rose to 14.3 billion euros ($16.82 billion) on volume of 3,060,298 terajoules (TJ)*, data from trade statistics office BAFA showed. Germany mainly imports gas from Russia, Norway, the Netherlands, Britain and Denmark. BAFA no longer provides a breakdown of supply from each country, but Russia is the top supplier by far.
Many continental European gas prices under long-term supply contracts still track crude oil prices, with a time lag, though the importance of virtual gas trading points for spot supplies is increasing. BAFA gave the following details: Aug 2017 Aug 2016 Pct change Gas border price **4,539.57 3,931.65 + 15.5 (in euros/TJ)* Gas imports (TJ) 371,836 326,135 + 14.0 Jan-Aug 2017 Jan-Aug 2016 Pct change Gas imports 3,060,298 2,560,162 + 19.5 volume (TJ) Avg gas border 4,675.55 4,094.38 + 14.2 price (in euros/TJ) Total value of 14.3 10.5 + 36.2 imports (bln euros) * 1 terajoule = 278,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh), 1 bcm = 35,170 TJ ** equivalent to 1.63 cents/kWh ($1 = 0.8503 euros)
