Gazprom Eyes Baltic LNG, May Bypass Lithuania

By The Maritime Executive 11-22-2013 09:13:00

Gazprom plans to supply Russia's Baltic enclave Kaliningrad with gas by sea, and increase storage there, in a move, which may lead to bypassing the land route via Lithuania.

Lithuania is seen as a taste case for the European Union in its drive to cut energy dependence on Russia and decrease Gazprom's control over gas pipelines.

It is the only route to transport gas from mainland Russia to Kaliningrad, providing a guarantee that Russia cannot switch off gas to Lithuania as it had done in case of Belarus or Ukraine.

Gazprom said on Friday that it plans to start supplying seaborne liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Kaliningrad, a region with a population of just under 1 million, in 2017 and enlarging underground storage there to 800 million cubic metres by 2025.

The Russian state-owned company plans to build a Baltic LNG plant by the end of 2018 with capacity of 10 million tonnes of the frozen gas a year.

Last year, Lithuania imported 3.3 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Russia for domestic use and transported about 2 bcm to Kaliningrad.

Lithuania has been involved in a spat with Gazprom over 'unbundling' of its gas system, which, according to a EU law, requires Russian gas supplier to sell its stakes at the gas transportation company Amber Grid by end-October next year.

Gazprom statement about gas development in Kaliningrad region came just a day after Lithuania won approval from the European Commission to provide 448 million euros ($606 million) in loan guarantees and other aid to finance a liquefied natural gas terminal, which will reduce its dependence on Russian gas.

Copyright Reuters 2013.