The EIA has estimated that up to 0.4 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, i.e. approximately 10 billion cubic meters, could be extracted in Lithuania. Lithuania, including its top gas user Achema, consumes around 3 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

The latest report by the US agency says that larger volumes of shale gas are to be found in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, not in Western Lithuania. The Baltic Basin, which is prospective for shale gas and oil development, is located in northern Poland, and its small portion extends into Western Lithuania and the Kaliningrad region. The agency estimates that up to 2 trillion cubic feet of shale gas could be recovered in Russia’s Baltic exclave.

According to the daily, the US agency might have been prompted to revise its projections due to the developments in Poland, in particular as two international companies terminated their shale gas exploration efforts in that country after failing to demonstrate “sustained commercial hydrocarbon flow rates”.