Sample News Story
Growth in Belgian gas demand
28/11/1995
For some years, the rule of thumb for Belgium has been that domestic consumption equals the volume of gas transiting the Belgian grid. In 1994, for example, Belgian consumers used 11.8 Bcm of gas, while gas in transit amounted to 12 Bcm.
Now, following a rise in transit volumes on the existing network, expected to reach 15 Bcm in 1995, national consumption although set to rise, will do so at a slower pace. Growth of the domestic market will largely result from sales to local municipalities and the power sector. Distrigaz expects the internal market to grow by about 3.5% annually, so that the 15 Bcm per year consumption mark should be attained shortly after the year 2000. New sales for power generation may further boost demand.
Last year, the Belgian market consumed 3.98 Bcm of Algerian gas (LNG), 2.63 Bcm of Norwegian gas and 5.26 Bcm of gas from the Netherlands, according to Cedigaz. Additional consumption will be supplied from already contracted Norwegian imports, so that Distrigaz’s three suppliers will each account for about one third of gas imports shortly after the turn of the century.
Out of a total of 5.6 Bcm of gas starting to flow under the Troll contract, Distrigaz will sell 3.6 Bcm to local distribution companies and municipalities. The remaining 2 Bcm will be delivered as base load gas to newly constructed gas fired power stations. The gas for the recently added 1,160 MW of power generation capacity is sold to Tractebel, Distrigaz’s parent company. The power stations were constructed and recently finished by Electrabel, another subsidiary of Tractabel.