Energy, Financial Services, Gas, Legislation, Lithuania, Loan

On 2012 March 2 AB Klaipedos Nafta (of which 70.63 percent of shares are controlled by the Lithuanian Government) signed a 10 year lease agreement for an LNG carrier with the possibility to buy the vessel for residual value. Beginning with 2014 AB Klaipedos Nafta shall rent the ship from Norwegian company Hoegh LNG Ltd., which had won the international tender in early 2012.

Member of Parliament Petras Grazulis said that the LNG carrier rent per year will cost Klaipedos Nafta around LTL 180 million (EUR 52 million) and for the whole period the cost will be LTL 1.8 billion (EUR 0.5 billion). According to him, the Norwegians themselves said that the Koreans could build and sell a slightly bigger ship for LTL 838 million (EUR 242 million). Which is a billion less than Klaipedos Nafta will pay in ten years for rent.

The Member of Parliament asked to determine whether anticorruption assessment of the lease agreement was conducted; what would the residual value of the LNG carrier be and why the agreement was signed instead of buying a ship. Also, whether the gas terminal construction is economically viable and will all necessary measures be taken to avoid inactivity as one day would cost the state LTL 0.4 million (EUR 0.1 million). Lastly, what would the cost be paying per trip without the rental agreement.