The reference period covers the past five years. Net imports are the daily difference between total gas flows into Switzerland and gas flows out of Switzerland into neighbouring countries.

Gas flows into and out of Switzerland via twelve entry points from the surrounding countries of Germany, France, Italy and Austria. The main injection points in recent years have been Oltingue and Wallbach on the transit gas pipeline, through which most of the gas flows into Switzerland occurred, with the majority being redirected to neighbouring countries.

Net imports are an indicator of consumption in Switzerland, as Switzerland has no significant storage facilities of its own. However, a distinction must be made between net imports, national consumption and final consumption. Net imports include national consumption minus biogas injection into the natural gas grid (Swiss production) and changes in pipeline content. Final consumption results from national consumption minus gas input for the generation of electricity and district heating (conversion), the gas sector’s own consumption as well as transport and network losses.

In contrast to final gas consumption, transport losses, the gas sector’s own consumption or biogas injections are included in net imports. For these items, no data are currently available on a monthly/daily basis, which is why final consumption cannot be estimated.

Disclaimer data

The data are obtained from different sources. Daily updated data are available from EU public sources. They are shown with a delay of 3 days, as they are then complete. However, these sources have certain quality problems for Switzerland in that sometimes physical flows are available, sometimes only commercial flows. They can be used transitionally to approximate net imports, although their significance varies. This does not significantly change the overall trends in net imports. Reliable daily data on net imports, national consumption and final consumption, forecasts and temperature effects are currently not available. The FONES is working on solutions with the Swiss Gas Association (VSG), with the involvement of the SFOE.

The data on provisional monthly net imports come from the Swiss Gas Association (VSG).