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Lithuania’s incentive to build an LNG terminal has been strengthened by a dispute between Russia and neighboring Belarus that threatens to disrupt natural gas supplies, Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported.
The Baltic nation is considering building a liquefied natural gas terminal as it seeks to wean itself off dependence on energy imports from Russia.
"If OAO Gazprom is not going to change its price policy, we should build an LNG terminal in Lithuania," Kubilius told reporters in London today. "Incidents such as the dispute in Belarus make us more convinced we should have an LNG terminal."
Gazprom, Russia’s gas-export monopoly, cut supplies to Belarus by 30 percent today after a 15 percent reduction yesterday as talks about unpaid gas supply and transit failed. Lithuania plans to decide on the capacity and the site for construction of the LNG terminal this year, the Lithuanian Energy Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Belarus is "interested" in Lithuania’s LNG project as it wants to diversify its gas imports through alternative routes, the Lithuanian ministry said the statement, citing Belarus Energy Minister Aleksandr Ozerac.
Belgium’s Exmar NV and two U.S. companies, SAIC Inc. and Excelerate Energy LLC, are studying the feasibility of an LNG terminal in Lithuania, the ministry said in March. The government had said the terminal may cost as much as 670 million euros (2.3 billion litas.) A possible location is Klaipeda, a Baltic Sea port, adjacent to Klaipedos Nafta AB, Lithuania’s oil products terminal, the government has said.
Lithuania isn’t yet feeling the impact of a reduction in gas flows to Belarus from Russia, Kubilius said, and it would also be "technically possible" to avoid Belarus by receiving gas from Russia through neighbor Latvia.
Kubilius also said he had voiced concern about the price Gazprom charges for the fuel, when he met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in March.