Firstly, according to Eurostat data, renewable energy sources (RES) accounted for 40% of the total energy consumed in Latvia in 2019. For comparison, in the Netherlands it is approximately 9%, in Poland and Hungary - 12%, in Germany and France - 17%, in Italy - 18%, and so on.

The above means that the "greening" of European manufacturing industries, i.e., the transition from coal to "greener" energy sources such as natural gas, is still ahead. Although natural gas is not a RES, an undeniable advantage of this fossil fuel is its very low emission footprint.

Therefore, it is expected that the demand for natural gas in the international market will not decrease over the next ten years, but on the contrary, will continue to grow. Increased demand means that the gas price on the international market could remain at a relatively high level. This is similar to the situation since December 2020, when the gas price on the exchange per megawatt-hour (MWh) reached 19 EUR. That is the highest price since the beginning of 2019. A cold winter, a cool spring and geopolitical challenges kept this price quite high in May of this year as well, when it reached about 25 EUR/MWh.