Document shows EU countries want more transparency about Russian gas imports
In a letter to the European Commission on Monday, a group of EU member states including France and the Baltic States asked for tighter reporting requirements across the EU on Russian LNG imports. In June, the EU approved a 14th set of sanctions that included a prohibition on the trans-shipment of Russian LNG in its ports. Moscow has used European ports for transshipment onto other vessels bound for Asia. Imports of Russian LNG were not banned. Several EU countries continue to receive Russian pipeline gas via Ukraine and Turkey.
Orlen, a Polish company, signs a Lithuanian deal to increase LNG deliveries
Polish top refiner Orlen has signed a five-year contract with Lithuanian oil & gas logistics company KN Energies to use a liquid natural gas (LNG), transshipment facility in Klaipeda exclusively. This agreement is aimed at small-scale gas supplies, as LNG will be delivered via small ships to the station and then transported by trucks instead of oil tankers. Gas from Klaipeda is sent to clients throughout the Baltic region, including Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Orlen views Lithuania as a strategic market…
Sunly raises 300 million euros for renewable energy projects in Baltics, Poland and Baltics
The Estonian renewable energy company Sunly raised $300 million in debt financing in order to accelerate construction of 1.3 Gigawatts of wind, solar and storage capacity in the Baltics and Poland. It said that the financing provided by Rivage Investment and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), as well as Norway's Kommunal Landspensjonskasse, brings the total capital raised up to 765 millions euros. Sunly aims to create hybrid installations that combine wind, solar, and energy storage, and provide a direct connection to consumers.
Norway's Snow Crab Ruling Boosts Oil Claim
A court delivered a painful nip to European Union fishermen on Thursday by tightening Norway's grip on snow crab catches in the Arctic, a ruling that may also let Oslo claw more control of oil and gas from other nations.Fishermen from the European Union must ask permission from Oslo to catch snow crab — whose meat is a delicacy for gourmets from Canada to Japan — in Arctic waters north of Norway, the Norwegian Supreme Court said in a unanimous ruling.The court dismissed an appeal…
Lithuania Plans to Buy an FSRU
Lithuania has given the go ahead to state-owned Klaipedos Nafta to purchase a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage vessel by late 2024, as it shores up energy supplies and reduces its reliance on Russian natural gas.Klaipedos Nafta is currently leasing a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), called Independence, from Norway's Hoegh LNG.The use of the vessel has allowed Lithuania to import LNG since 2014, breaking the monopoly Russia's Gazprom had on natural gas supply to the country as well as neighboring Latvia and Estonia."This will keep us able…
Fortum Eyes More M&A With Unspent Uniper Cash
Finland's Fortum, which failed last month in its bid to win majority control of Germany's Uniper, is now considering other acquisitions, Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark said on Thursday. After selling its distribution networks in 2015, state-controlled Fortum was left with about 10 billion euros in cash, much of which the company has said it could use for acquisitions. Fortum received only a 47-percent stake in Uniper after bidding 8.05 billion euros ($9.80 billion) for a 100-percent stake.
Austrian Parties Plan to use Brexit to Reopen EU Nuclear Power Pact
Austria's main conservative and far-right parties, which are in coalition talks, plan to use Britain's departure from the European Union to renegotiate the bloc's main atomic pact so as to reward countries free of nuclear power, they said on Friday. Austria has opposed the use of nuclear energy ever since a majority backed that position in a referendum in 1978, when the country's first nuclear power plant was ready to be brought into service. The plant never went into operation. The conservative People's Party (OVP), led by Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, which won a parliamentary election on Oct.
Gazprom Says Progress Made in EU Anti-trust Talks
Gazprom said on Friday that anti-trust talks with the European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager had made progress. The Russian state-controlled company is fighting allegations of overcharging customers and blocking East European rivals in contravention of EU rules. It denies the allegations. Gazprom said it and the European Commission had agreed to continue work on "seeking a mutually acceptable solution" in relation to the EU's investigation into the company's practices.
Lithuania Receives First U.S. LNG Cargo
Lithuania received its first spot shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States on Monday, the result of a deal aimed at reducing dependence on Russia and consolidating relations with Washington amid increased tension in the region. Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 has spooked the Baltic states, once ruled from Moscow but now members of both NATO and the European Union. "This is crucially important for the whole region," said Lithuania's Foreign Affairs Minister Linas Linkevicius.
Trump to Promote US Natgas Exports in Russia's Backyard
President Donald Trump will use fast-growing supplies of U.S. natural gas as a political tool when he meets in Warsaw on Thursday with leaders of a dozen countries that are captive to Russia for their energy needs. In recent years, Moscow has cut off gas shipments during pricing disputes with neighboring countries in winter months. Exports from the United States would help reduce their dependence on Russia. Trump will tell the group that Washington wants to help allies by making it as easy as possible for U.S.
Private Producer Aims to Ship Baltic's First Russian LNG Before Gazprom
LNG Gorskaya, a privately-owned Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer, has launched a 340 million euro ($379 million) project to become the first LNG exporter from Russia's European coast, its CEO told Reuters. Russia expects to send LNG to Europe by the end of 2017 from its distant Arctic peninsula of Yamal but a plant on its Baltic coast could establish the country as a more immediate supplier of LNG in a region already dependent on piped Russian gas. The company will build a floating LNG plant off the port of Gorskaya…
Latvia Mulls Options for Baltic Gas Facility
Latvia to liberalise gas market next April. A number of companies, including Germany's Open Grid Europe (OGE), are considering buying a stake in Latvia's future gas grid and storage operator Conexus Baltic Grid, the country's economy minister said. Latvia's gas utility Latvijas Gaze is set to transfer part of its assets - including one of Europe's largest underground gas storage facilities, Incukalns - to Conexus ahead of a planned market liberalisation next April. The current owners of Latvijas Gaze - Russia's Gazprom…
Latvia's Latvenergo Plans to Trade Gas in the Baltics
Lavia's state-owned utility Latvenergo plans to trade gas in neighbouring Estonia and at home as its domestic market is liberalized next year, its Chief Operating Officer said on Thursday. Latvia has decided to open its gas market for competition from April next year after decades of a supply monopoly by Russian Gazprom. "Yes, we are looking at this direction (of becoming a gas trader) and we are interested in that," COO Maris Kunickis told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference.
Russia to Halt Oil Products Export via Foreign Baltic Ports
Russia plans to fully halt exports of oil products from other than Russian ports on the Baltic Sea by 2018, the head of oil pipeline monopoly Nikolai Tokarev told President Vladimir Putin on Monday. Russia will increase the shipments via its own ports instead, Tokarev said, according to a transcript of the meeting published on the Kremlin website. Russia has been gradually cutting oil and oil products exports via foreign ports on the Baltic Sea, such as Latvia's Ventspils as it has built its own shipments facilities in the ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga.
Gazprom Sells Over 420 mcm of Gas in Baltic Auction
Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom has sold over 420 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas at its second ever auction, this time destined for the Baltic states, the company said in a statement on Friday. Gazprom began experimenting with auction sales last year as a possible alternative to its normal system of selling through long-term oil price-linked contracts, as some clients started to demand at least partial spot pricing. "We are satisfied with the results of our second gas auction and we will use this model for the other European gas markets as well…
EU Leaders Sign Letter Objecting to Nord Stream-2 Gas Link
Eight EU governments have signed a letter objecting to the Nord Stream-2 project that would double the amount of gas shipped directly from Russia to Germany, according to a document seen by Reuters. The letter, addressed to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, reignites a debate that has pitched dominant EU member Germany against central and eastern European nations. If the project goes ahead, Nord Stream-2 would generate "potentially destabilising geopolitical consequences", the letter says. The European Commission said it could not confirm receipt of the letter.
Gazprom Export’s Baltic Gas Auction
Gazprom Export has announced the startup of a second gas auction – now gas will be supplied to the Baltic States. The auction will be carried out by Gazprom Export LLC in the middle of March 2016. Gas sold at the auction is to be delivered in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters of 2016 to the delivery point at Kotlovka gas metering station (at the border of Belorussia and Lithuania). Also, gas volumes in the Inčukalns Underground Gas Storage (Latvia) will be offered. More than 560 mcm of gas will be offered at this auction.
Gazprom to Hold Natgas auction for Lithuania, Latvia
Russia's biggest natural gas producer Gazprom said on Saturday it would hold its second gas export auction in mid-March, offering more than 560 million cubic metres of the fuel to Lithuania and Latvia. Natural gas sold at the auction will be delivered to the two countries between April and December 2016, the company said in a statement. Gazprom said in November it planned to hold an auction for the Baltic states as its long-term contracts with Lithuania and Estonia were to expire in December. "Gas sold at the auction will be delivered ...
ABB Integrates Baltics with European Grid
ABB has commissioned and handed over a high-voltage power transmission link to the Lithuanian transmission system operator Litgrid. The LitPol Link is the final step of the European Union’s Baltic Ring initiative to interconnect the grids of nine countries around the Baltic Sea: Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia. ABB’s high-voltage direct current (HVDC) link, which connects the power grids of Lithuania and Poland, enables power trading between the two countries…
Gazprom, EU to Continue Settlement Talks
Gazprom and EU regulators pledged on Thursday to continue talks aimed at resolving antitrust charges levied against the Russian gas giant, suggesting the chances of a regulatory fine are receding. The Russian state-controlled company is fighting accusations of over-charging customers and blocking rivals in eastern Europe, practices which the European Commission say breach the bloc's rules ensuring a level playing field. The company, however, is also seeking to settle the charges with concessions to stave off a penalty and a finding of wrongdoing.
