Energy, EU – Baltic States, Gas, Legislation, Lithuania

“As regards the legal work, i.e. the work on the agreement, we’ve already reached the home stretch… There is a certain text, which, as we agree, is suitable,” Dominykas Tuckus told BNS on Tuesday.

The agreement was expected to be signed by the end of the year, he said, admitting, however, that the process was not simple.

Litgas seeks to gain a foothold in the market for small-scale gas supply to gas-fueled vessels and to customers through a gas reloading station being built in Klaipeda.

Litgas and Statoil will compete with Germany’s Bomin Linge LNG, which is establishing a joint venture with Klaipedos Nafta.

However, Tuckus would not say whether Litgas eyed the German company as a potential rival.

“As far as the context and the expectations of Bomin are concerned, it’s better to ask them. We’ve signed a long-term contract with Statoil, which helps us put in place a chain of supply and it’s a short chain of supply because Statoil is the only company in Europe that has liquefaction units hence it’s a suitable business model,” Litgas CEO said.

He emphasized that the small-scale LNG market was still in its nascent stage.

“This market is still in its nascent stage … We see that the market will be, but we still don’t know its size or when it will emerge. More ships will appear in the market in 2017,” Tuckus said.

Klaipedos Nafta (Klaipeda Oil) plans to build the reloading station, which will have the capacity of 5,000 cubic meters and is worth an estimated 27 million euros, by early 2017. It also intends to offer LNG bunkering and truck loading services to customers in the Baltic countries and Poland.