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

Dominykas Tuckus, a member of the management board at the state energy group Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy), says that the price shock had a minimal effect on the price of the Litgas cargo in terms of the average NBP (National Balancing Point) index for the whole month, but compared with spot prices in the UK in late February, the difference was sufficient for the Lithuanian importer to direct a part of the shipment to that market. 

"In other words, the gas tanker transported a part of the cargo intended for Litgas and other LNG buyers in Lithuania to Britain where it was sold," Tuckus told the website.

"Other spot LNG cargo traders also seized this opportunity," he added.

The NBP gas price surged from 20 euros to 88 euros per megawatt-hour for several hours in late February. Prices in GET Baltic, the dominant gas exchange in Lithuania, currently do not exceed 20-21 euros per MWh.

This year's first LNG shipment from Norway's Statoil arrived in Lithuania last week. A tanker delivered 98,000 cubic meters of LNG to the port Klaipeda, instead of the initially planned 138,000 cubic meters.

Litgas says that the deal will help reduce the Klaipeda LNG terminal's 2018 maintenance costs by around 0.5 million euros.

The company last year lowered the costs by 3 million euros by selling a part of a LNG shipment to take advantage of a price spike.