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…
Lithuania Inks U.S. LNG Supply Deal
Lithuania's state-owned gas trader Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas (LDT) said on Monday it had signed a deal to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) directly from the United States for the first time and expects to receive a delivery in the second half of August. The deal is with a unit of Cheniere Energy and is part Lithuania's efforts to diversify its gas suppliers and reduce its reliance on Russia's Gazprom. LDT, part of state-owned energy group Lietuvos Energija…
Statoil to Supply Small-scale LNG to Baltics
Norway's Statoil will supply small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) to terminals in the Baltic Sea through Lithuania's Klaipeda LNG terminal, a company official said on Thursday. The move comes after the energy firm signed an agreement on Thursday with Litgas and Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas, gas trading subsidiaries of Lithuanian state-owned energy group Lietuvos Energija, to balance the gas supplies at the Klaipeda terminal. "If I'm sitting here in five years and this is a success story…
LNG Deliveries to Lithuania to Triple
LNG deliveries to Lithuania will triple to the end of September as a result of two new contracts signed by the country's Klaipeda terminal, its operator Klaipedos Nafta said on Friday. Lithuania opened the floating import terminal in Klaipeda at the end of 2014 to cut its dependence on Russian energy imports. Klaipedos Nafta said in a statement it has signed contracts with Lithuanian fertilizer producer Achema and gas supplier Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas (LDT). It already had a deal with Lithuanian Litgas.
Lithuania, Statoil Revise LNG Import Deal
Norwegian oil company Statoil and Lithuania have agreed to a revised deal to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the Baltic state, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius said on Monday. Statoil had agreed to lower its gas price by 15-20 percent, the head of Lithuania's state-owned energy group Lietuvos Energija Dalius Misiunas told Reuters, after a joint press conference with Butkevicius. The contract will be extended to 10 years from five…
Lithuania Puts Plans to Import LNG From US On Hold
Lithuania has put plans to buy liquefied natural gas from the United States on hold because the LNG is not yet suitable for the Baltic state's gas system, its state energy company said on Wednesday. Lithuania's system was built to use Russian gas and state energy group Lietuvos Energija said U.S. LNG was much more calorific than Russian gas. The country opened an LNG import terminal in the Baltic Sea at the end of 2014, which…
Lithuania Seeking to Renegotiate LNG Supply Contract with Statoil
Lithuania is seeking to renegotiate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract with Norway's Statoil due to falling demand, head of energy group Lietuvos Energija said on Tuesday. "The government has asked us renegotiate the contract... One question is the total annual volumes, which could be smaller," Dalius Misiunas, chief executive of state-owned Lietuvos Energija, told Reuters, declining to elaborate. Misiunas said he wanted to negotiate results by the end of this year…
US and Russian Gas Exporters Square up over Europe
The first export of U.S. gas to Europe will head for Lithuania, two industry sources say, a gesture to the Baltic states, reliant on Russia for supply, and the likely first shot in a price war over market share in Moscow's backyard. The February delivery will be of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) transported by sea to custom built terminals, challenging Russia's land locked pipelines, as producers turn from the wilting Asian market to Europe.
Statoil, Lithuania Developing Baltic LNG Business
Norway's Statoil and Lithuania's Lietuvos Energija plan to join forces to develop a small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply operation, competing with Finnish gas utility Gasum. Litgas, an LNG arm of state-owned Lietuvos Energija, and Statoil signed a preliminary agreement on Thursday to establish a joint venture by the end of 2015, Litgas said in a statement. Statoil has a contract with Litgas to deliver 0.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Lithuania's LNG terminal at Klaipeda port in 2014.
Lithuania Considers Re-exporting LNG as Russian Gas Gets Cheaper
Lithuania is considering allowing its liquefied natural gas import terminal to re-export LNG to global markets during summer when local demand declines, the facility's operator said on Monday. The Independence terminal, which opened last year, was built to reduce Lithuania's total reliance on pipeline supplies from Russia's Gazprom, by giving it access to global LNG supplies. Since the terminal opened, Gazprom has cut the price of gas supplies to Lithuania by 20 percent to maintain market share…
Lithuanian Energy Group Calls for Rule Change on LNG Imports
Lithuania's state-owned energy group Lietuvos Energija said on Monday national rules had to be changed to allow it to sell some liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes it had contracted from Norway's Statoil in the global market as domestic demand falls. Lithuania opened an LNG import terminal last year seeking to reduce its dependence on former Soviet master Russia and to diversify supplies, including buying LNG from the United States in the future.
Lithuania May Not Extend Long-Term Deal with Gazprom
Lithuania may not extend its long-term natural gas import deal with Russia's Gazprom after the current one expires at the end of 2015, as it has gained access to global LNG markets, the state-owned energy group said on Monday. Russian pipeline gas imports to Lithuania fell to 2.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2014, down from 2.7 bcm a year ago, partly due to warm weather and increasing use of biomass in heat production. But the opening of a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at the end of 2014…
Litgas, Statoil Consider LNG Bunkering Business in Baltic
Lithuanian liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer Litgas and Norway's Statoil are counsidering setting up an LNG bunkering business in the Baltic region as regulations force vessels to switch to cleaner fuels, the Lithuanian company said. The business, if launched, could involve additional LNG volumes on top of the 0.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year Litgas has agreed to buy from Statoil for five-years. "Litgas together…
Lithuania Expects First Commercial LNG Cargo at end-Dec
Norway's Statoil is expected to ship the first commercial cargo of liquefied natural gas to Lithuania by the end of December, the import terminal's operator said on Tuesday. Lithuania plans to cover about a fifth of its annual gas needs in 2015 through imports of super-cooled gas delivered by tankers to cut its dependence on pipeline gas imports from Russia. "We expect the (LNG) cargo to arrive on Dec. 22 or Dec. 23," a spokeswoman for Klaipedos Nafta, the operator of Lithuania's newly launched LNG import terminal, said.
Lithuania Wants Speedier Gas Market Reforms in Latvia
State-owned Lithuanian firms are seeking to buy a majority stake in the country's gas utility company Latvijas Gaze to speed up market reforms to fully benefit from new liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, the energy minister said. Two state-owned firms, Lietuvos Energija and EPSO-G, submitted non-binding bids to buy a 47.2 percent stake in Latvijas Gaze from Germany's E.ON in September. "Yes, they are taking part (in the tender)," Energy Minister Rokas Masiulis told Reuters on Monday.
Latvia Drops Bid to Buy E.ON's Gas Utility Stake
Latvia's government has abandoned talks to buy a 47.2 percent stake in Latvian gas utility Latvijas Gaze from Germany's E.ON, the country's prime minister said in a television interview on Tuesday. Latvia submitted a non-binding offer to buy shares from the German utility in September, after E.ON sold its stakes in gas utilities in neighbouring Lithuania and Estonia this year. Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma told the public broadcaster the price was too high.
Lithuania Inks First Statoil LNG Deal
Lithuania seeks to cut dependence on Russia; Statoil to supply 0.54 bcm of gas per year. This will cover about 20 pct of Lithuania's demand. Lithuania signed its first liquefied natural gas purchase deal with Norway's Statoil on Thursday, helping the country to reduce its total dependence on Russian supplies. The Baltic state plans to import 0.54 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas from Norway from 2015, enough to meet about one-fifth of its total consumption. The gas will supply a floating LNG terminal, named the "Independence".
Lithuanian Firm Seeks LNG for Terminal Testing
Lithuania will seek to buy up to 170,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas on a spot basis to test its LNG import terminal, which is expected to come online in December, the company in charge of the project said on Thursday. Klaipedos Nafta has signed a 10-year agreement with Norway's Hoegh LNG to lease a floating gas storage and regasification vessel, which will serve as an import terminal at the Baltic Sea port city of Klaipeda.
Lithuania Competition Watchdog Fines Gazprom $48 mln
Fine is highest ever imposed by the Lithuanian watchdog; Gazprom is Lithuania's sole supplier of natural gas. Company also faces EU competition investigation. Lithuania's competition authority has fined Russia's Gazprom a record 123 million Lithuanian litas ($48 million), saying that the company had prevented competition in the Baltic state. Gazprom, the world's top gas producer and supplier of about 30 percent of Europe's gas needs…
Lithuania Firms Offer to Buy Gazprom Utilities Stake
Lithuania state seeks to return control of gas pipelines; Gazprom owns 37.1 pct in Lithuania gas utility, gas grid. Lithuanian state-owned firms on Wednesday offered to buy the minority stakes in the country's gas utilities held by Russia's Gazprom and others, reversing their privatisation a decade ago. The move follows a deal last week to buy out Germany's E.ON from the utilities, which gave the state a majority stake, forcing an offer to minority shareholders.
