Energy, Gas, Gas Market , Lithuania, Russia
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Friday, 19.04.2024, 14:23
Lithuania's Achema, LET buy LNG from Russia's Novatek
Novatek's liquefied natural gas is imported via the Klaipeda LNG terminal.
According to unofficial information, Achema has imported two small cargoes of 6,500 cubic meters each from Novatek. Both vessels came from Russia' newly-built Baltic Sea port of Vysotsk.
Achema would not comment on its gas purchases.
Orinta Barkauskaite, head of communications at Klaipedos Nafta, the Klaipeda LNG terminal's operator, confirmed that three vessels had come to the Lithuanian port from Vysotsk in April, but gave no further details.
One of the three Novatek cargoes shipped to Klaipeda was purchased by LET, a unit of the state energy group Lietuvos Energija. Arturas Ketlerius, the group's spokesman, that the company had bought the cargo from the international commodities trader Trafigura.
According to information available to BNS, more shipments of Novatek LNG for Achema are to arrive in Klaipeda by June. Klaipedos Nafta plans to receive around ten small-scale LNG carriers this year, but there is no public information on whether all of these cargoes will be imported by Achema.
Novatek, along with Russia's state-owned Gazprombank, owns the Vysotsk small-scale LNG terminal and a gas regasification plant with an annual capacity of 660,000 tons. Novatek shipped seven cargoes with a total volume of 67,800 cubic meters of frozen gas between March 31 and April 16 from Vysotsk, Reuters has reported.
Both Novatek and Gazprombank have been subject to US sanctions since 2014. The sanctions do not apply to Russian billionaire Leonid Mikhelson, Novatek's largest shareholder and CEO, but they do apply to the company's second-biggest shareholder, Gennady Timchenko, a billionaire who has close ties to President Vladimir Putin.
Novatek, Russia's second-largest gas producer after Gazprom, increased natural gas production by 8.5% in 2018 compared with 2017 to 68.8 bn cubic meters.
With the Russian government's help, Novatek is implementing another two LNG plant projects in the northern part of the country. One of them, in the Yamal peninsula, was launched in late 2017 and the other LNG plant is planned to be built in the nearby Gydan peninsula.