HELSINKI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2022) Finland has halved the consumption of natural gas in the first half of 2022 from 17.8 to 8.8 terawatt (TW)/hour year on year without disruptions to production and heating, media reported on Wednesday.
Finland consumed about 8.8 TW/hour of natural gas in the first half of the year, which became the record reduction in the same period of time among the European Union's member states, Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported.
The EU has lowered its gas consumption by 6% year on year, while some member countries increased their energy expenditure, the report said, citing data of the Brugel economic think tank. The bloc is planning to reduce the gas consumption by 15%, it added.
Industry experts said that one of the possible explanations for Finland's record reduction of gas use is the small number of houses with individual gas heating, as well as the replacement of natural gas by thermal energy with other fuels such as coal, biomass or peat, according to the report.
Since 2021, energy prices in Europe have been surging as part of a global trend in large part due to the COVID-19 restrictive measures. After the beginning of Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine on February 24 and the imposition of comprehensive sanctions against Russia by the collective West, energy prices have increased, pushing many European governments to resort to contingency measures.
