Lisbon, March 24, 2026 (Lusa) - Gas consumption in Portugal increased by 11.1% to 45.0 TWh (terawatt-hours) in 2025 compared to 2024, but remained 20% below the average of the previous five years, the Energy Services Regulatory Entity (ERSE) reported on Tuesday.
According to ERSE's "Gas Infrastructure Utilisation Bulletin," the year-on-year increase in consumption was driven by a 92.7% rise in the electricity market, while the industrial sector and distribution networks recorded reductions of 14.7% and 3.1%, respectively.
Total gas consumption was 45.0 TWh, split between 13.8 TWh in the electricity market and 31.2 TWh in the conventional market.
Considering only the fourth quarter of 2025, consumption totalled 12.0 TWh, up 7.1% compared to the same quarter in 2024, reflecting a 33.3% increase in the electricity market (3.8 TWh) associated with greater use of combined-cycle plants, and a 1.9% reduction in the conventional market (8.2 TWh).
"The increase in gas consumption results from the effects of the blackout on 28 April 2025, which required a reinforcement of electricity system operation security measures through the use of gas plants," ERSE stated.
The regulator noted that the daily peak in each month of gas consumption recorded values above the same period in 2024, except December.
During the same period, the average price of gas in the Iberian Gas Market (Mibgas) with delivery in Spain stood at €29.75/MWh (euros per megawatt-hour), a year-on-year reduction of 32.0%.
According to ERSE, this trend "also highlights lower price volatility," with "less frequent peaks and a smaller range of variation."
In 2025, regasification contracted capacity remained stable, reaching a value of 179 GWh/day (89.6% of the Available Capacity for Commercial Purposes – CDFC), while the daily average of nominated capacity was 124 gigawatts (GWh)/day, below that recorded in 2024 (129 GWh/day) and without bottlenecks in regasification capacity contracting.
Regasification is the process of converting liquefied natural gas (LNG) back into its natural gaseous state by heating it, allowing it to be transported through pipelines. The Sines LNG (liquefied natural gas) Terminal, which is responsible for the reception, shipping, storage, and regasification of LNG, received 46 LNG tankers for discharge operations, a 13.2% reduction from the total number of vessels received in 2024.
The origins of these vessels were Nigeria (23 tankers), the USA (20), and Russia (three), with the total value of energy discharged at the terminal corresponding to approximately 47.7 TWh, 1.5% less than in 2024.
The LNG Terminal accounted for 94% of imported natural gas injected into the transport network, totalling 44.6 TWh. Additionally, 2.2 TWh of LNG were shipped by road, corresponding to 7,546 tankers, reflecting a year-on-year activity increase of 2.9%.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the regasification process operated at 40%-80% of its capacity on 87% of days, "leaving margin to respond to demand peaks," ERSE noted.
In the bulletin, the regulator also stated that by the end of 2025, average contracting of underground storage capacity was 95.0% of the CDFC, 4.3% less year-on-year.
"The annual capacity product remained the most sought after due to its lower cost compared to short-term products," it said.
Contracted extraction capacity reached 9.9% of the CDFC, up 27.4% from 2024, while contracted injection capacity in underground storage stood at 29.8% of the CDFC, 9.5% above the year-on-year level in 2024.
"Portugal exceeded the European intermediate gas storage target (90%), reaching 96.2% on 1 November, while at the European level the average stock of gas stored in caverns was 82.8%," highlighted ERSE.
On December 31, the gas stock stood at 93.5% of the CDFC, equivalent to 27 days of average national consumption.
Regarding the Iberian Virtual Interconnection Point (VIP Ibérico), which consolidates the two interconnections between Portugal and Spain, "it presented low utilisation, recording an export balance of approximately 1.9 TWh."
PD/RYOL //
Lusa
