Statoil's LNG Price for Lithuania to Fall by a Third
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) price from Norwegian company Statoil ASA for Lithuania is set to fall by more than one-third and the Klaipeda LNG terminal's maintenance costs are to decline by around 23% after Lithuania's gas trade company Litgas completed talks with the Norwegian supplier on a revision of their long-term gas purchase contract, reports LETA/BNS. According to Dalius Misiunas, CEO of the state energy group Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy), the price will go down to around 16-20 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) under the new deal with Statoil, from around 27-30 euros currently. "We can't disclose the exact figures (...) under the agreement with Statoil. We estimate that the (price) range could be between 16 and 20 euros per MWh," Misiunas said at a news conference on Monday.
Lithuanian Energy Group Calls for Rule Change on LNG Imports
Lithuania's state-owned energy group Lietuvos Energija said on Monday national rules had to be changed to allow it to sell some liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes it had contracted from Norway's Statoil in the global market as domestic demand falls. Lithuania opened an LNG import terminal last year seeking to reduce its dependence on former Soviet master Russia and to diversify supplies, including buying LNG from the United States in the future. To prevent Russia's Gazprom from dumping prices and keeping the terminal idle, the government has imposed a minimum level of LNG the country's regulated heat and power producers have to buy. But even this minimum volume -- 540 million cubic metres (mcm) per year or the equivalent of six or seven cargoes -- appears too big as consumption falls.
