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

“It’s premature to talk about re-exports. We’ve just said that this could be the approximate surplus volume… We’re talking about two shipments – about 280,000 cubic meters, which will form a surplus next year. The volume is approximate as energy producers may still revise the estimates of their needs,” Paulius Jakutavicius, spokesman for Litgas, told BNS.

The surplus quantity of LNG could be sold in the domestic or the global market, he said, adding that the company considered selling gas next summer and fall.

“The consumption is typically small in summer and the heating season is just starting in fall,” Jakutavicius explained.

Five shipments of Statoil’s gas, each of 140,000 cubic meters of LNG, have been delivered to the port of Klaipeda since November 2014. The sixth tanker should arrive in mid-December.

In line with the existing contract, Lithuania shall purchase 540 million cubic meters of gas (regasified) from Norway’s Statoil annually. According to Litgas’ spokesman, this year, the company plans to regasify approximately 480 million cubic meters and the remaining volume – next year.

Litgas and Statoil have signed a five-year deal on the supply of 2.7 billion cubic meters of gas. Unofficial sources have told BNS that the parties are currently negotiating the extension of the deal for another five years and also, the reduction of the contractual supply volume.