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Lithuania's Amber Grid about to conclude gas transit talks with Gazprom

BC, Vilnius, 16.11.2015.Print version
Talks between Lithuania's gas transmission company Amber Grid and Russia's gas giant Gazprom over gas transit to Russia's Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad in 2016 and onwards are nearing completion, with an agreement expected to be signed by mid-December, sources have told BNS.

Amber Grid CEO Saulius Bilys declined to comment on when an agreement might be signed, saying that the transmission grid operator, as a publicly listed company, would make a public announcement about this, writes LETA.

 

Mantas Dubauskas, an advisor to the energy minister, told BNS that he had no information yet as to an agreement between Amber Grid and Gazprom.

 

Energy Minister Rokas Masiulis told BNS earlier this year that the talks were being held at the at the company level and gave no further comment. He did not say how many years the agreement would cover.

 

Gazprom back in 2014 pressed Lithuania to sign an interstate agreement on gas transit, but the government rejected that proposal.

 

Under an entry-exit pricing model in place in Lithuania since the start of the year, gas transit has become a regulated activity and Gazprom has to pay for the amount of gas transmitted.

 

The business daily Verslo Zinios reported earlier this year that Russia paid only 13 million to 15 million euros for gas transit through Lithuania per year, which accounts for about five% of the total value of transit shipments, estimated at some 320 million US dollars, or around 300 million euros, at Russia's domestic prices.

 

Gas transit shipments to Kaliningrad fell by 1.8% in the first half of 2015 year-on-year to 10.996 million megawatt-hours, according to figures from Lithuania's National Commission for Energy Control and Prices.






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