Litgas News

The European Commission said that the EC has approved under EU State aid rules the compensation granted by Lithuania to LITGAS for supplying a mandatory quantity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the LNG terminal in Klaipėda.In November 2013, the Commission approved under EU State aid rules an aid scheme to support the construction and operation of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at the Klaipėda seaportin Lithuania The LNG terminal has, since its construction, played a vital role in the diversification of gas supplies and security of supply in Lithuania.In June 2018, Lithuania notified the Commission of certain changes to the aid scheme approved in 2013 namely public service obligation of LITGAS and removal of purchasing obligation.To ensure security of supply…

Lithuania's state-owned gas trader Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas (LDT) said on Monday it had signed a deal to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) directly from the United States for the first time and expects to receive a delivery in the second half of August. The deal is with a unit of Cheniere Energy and is part Lithuania's efforts to diversify its gas suppliers and reduce its reliance on Russia's Gazprom. LDT, part of state-owned energy group Lietuvos Energija, signed a deal last year with Koch Supply & Trading for LNG supplies throughout 2017. Cheniere Energy was expected to supply LNG from a U.S. field, an LDT spokesman told Reuters. "It will be the first time Lithuania imports gas from the U.S.," he said.

Norway's Statoil will supply small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) to terminals in the Baltic Sea through Lithuania's Klaipeda LNG terminal, a company official said on Thursday. The move comes after the energy firm signed an agreement on Thursday with Litgas and Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas, gas trading subsidiaries of Lithuanian state-owned energy group Lietuvos Energija, to balance the gas supplies at the Klaipeda terminal. "If I'm sitting here in five years and this is a success story, I hope that we are churning three to five conventional cargos annually into this market", Statoil's head of LNG operations Ingvar Skogseide told reporters. Reporting by Andrius Sytas

Lithuania will import more gas from Norway than from former sole supplier Russia in 2016 after developing infrastructure to support liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, the country's energy minister said on Monday. Russia's Gazprom had enjoyed a supply monopoly until the end of 2014, when Lithuania opened a floating LNG import terminal to reduce energy dependence on its former Soviet master. That allowed it to import gas from Norwegian tankers, as well as via pipeline from Russia. Volumes of LNG imports to Lithuania are expected to triple this year after two new importers signed deals with Norway's Statoil, the terminal's operator Klaipedos Nafta said on Friday.

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.

Lithuania has put plans to buy liquefied natural gas from the United States on hold because the LNG is not yet suitable for the Baltic state's gas system, its state energy company said on Wednesday. Lithuania's system was built to use Russian gas and state energy group Lietuvos Energija said U.S. LNG was much more calorific than Russian gas. The country opened an LNG import terminal in the Baltic Sea at the end of 2014, which allowed it to start importing from Norway and end its total dependence on gas imports from its former Soviet master, Russia. "We are not buying gas from the U.S. at the moment, because the gas they are offering at the moment does not meet specifications needed for our gas distribution system," Ernesta Dapkiene, a spokeswoman for Lietuvos Energija, told Reuters.

Lithuania's parliament on Tuesday approved amendments which will allow the Baltic state to re-sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) on the international markets, the energy ministry said. The current laws require the country's regulated energy and heat producers to buy at least 540 million cubic metres (mcm) from a floating LNG terminal in Klaipeda on the Lithuanian coast to ensure it remains operational. But gas demand has been falling due to increased use of biomass for heating and warmer weather, leaving the energy companies with surplus gas. Lithuanian LNG importer Litgas asked the government to change the rules to allow the sale of surplus gas on the local gas exchange GET Baltic or on the international spot markets.

Domestic glut prompts Lithuania  government to consider selling-off surplus gas supplies, reports Reuters. Lithuanian LNG importer Litgas could be about to start re-exporting LNG bought. Lithuania opened an LNG import terminal in 2014 and started exporting natural gas to neighbouring Estonia earlier this year, breaking the supply monopoly of Gazprom. The Ministry of Energy forecasts that, in 2016, the required gas amount in the terminal will exceed the total LNG demand of regulated energy producers. The decrease of gas consumption results in bigger terminal maintenance costs for its users, therefore, the ministry wants to place the tax burden also on those users who have nothing to do with the terminal.

Natural gas supply and trading company Litgas, part of Lithuania's state owned energy holding Lietuvos Energija, and Statoil, leading global energy company in oil and gas production, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on July 2nd in Vilnius, Lithuania regarding establishment of a joint venture company in Lithuania to develop small scale LNG bunkering services. The new joint venture company is planned to be established in Lithuania later this year and would supply LNG as a fuel to ships, small terminals in the Baltic Sea, and transport LNG by trucks to on-shore customers. Statoil has a contract with Litgas to deliver 0.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Lithuania’s LNG terminal at Klaipeda port in 2014.

A potential deep-water port LNG export project for the Gulf of Mexico has submitted applications to the Maritime Administration and the United States Coast Guard for approval. Delfin LNG LLC has submitted an application to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) to construct, own, and operate the Delfin LNG Project (Port Delfin) under the Deepwater Port Act. The primary purpose of the proposed project is to provide a safe and reliable facility to liquefy natural gas for export to free trade agreement (FTA) and non-FTA nations under authorizations from the US Department of Energy. The deepwater port…

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.

Lithuanian liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer Litgas has signed a preliminary agreement with a U.S. supplier, looking to lessen the Baltic nation's dependence on Russia. Litgas said on Friday it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Delfin LNG, a developer of the United States' first offshore gas liquefaction project. U.S. LNG exporters are looking to the small Baltic states and Poland as hopes for a boom in Asian demand for cheap North American natural gas. Delfin LNG LLC is developing an offshore liquefaction and export facility in Louisiana with a total export capacity of 13 million tonnes of LNG per year (about 18 billion cubic metres of natural gas). Subject to regulatory approval, the project will be constructed in phases, and is expected to start in 2019.

Latvia's gas utility Latvijas Gaze sold 10.9 percent less natural gas imported from Russia in 2014 than a year before, the company said on Wednesday. Sales fell to 1.3 billion cubic metres (bcm) due to warmer weather and as more gas was switched for woodchips for heating, the company said when reporting its full-year results. Germany's E.ON wants to sell its 47.2 percent stake in the Latvian utility, which is 34 percent owned by Russia's Gazprom. The Russian firm is the sole supplier of gas to the Baltic country. Latvijas Gaze Chief Executive Adrians Davis confirmed on Wednesday that European infrastructure fund Marguerite was negotiating with E.ON. "There is a buyer - Marguerite. The buying and selling process is taking place at the moment ...

OSLO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Lithuania's liquefied natural gas import terminal and Germany's Bomin Linde LNG will work together to develop the use of LNG as marine fuel in the Baltic Sea, the terminal's operator Klaipedos Nafta said on Thursday. Lithuania opened the first LNG import terminal in the Baltic states last December to cut its dependence on pipeline gas imports from Russia. "In close cooperation both companies aim to jointly develop the LNG fuel market including the necessary infrastructure in Baltic Sea," Klaipedos Nafta said in a statement after signing a memorandum of understanding with the German LNG supplier. LNG demand for shipping in the Baltic region is going to increase due to stricter environmental regulations for sulphur content in the fuel.

Lithuania seeks to cut dependence on Russia; Statoil to supply 0.54 bcm of gas per year. This will cover about 20 pct of Lithuania's demand. Lithuania signed its first liquefied natural gas purchase deal with Norway's Statoil on Thursday, helping the country to reduce its total dependence on Russian supplies. The Baltic state plans to import 0.54 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas from Norway from 2015, enough to meet about one-fifth of its total consumption. The gas will supply a floating LNG terminal, named the "Independence". The total value of the contract is estimated at a little over $1 billion and the LNG price is linked to Britain's National Balancing Point (NBP) gas hub, Lithuanian importer Litgas said.

Lithuania will seek to buy up to 170,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas on a spot basis to test its LNG import terminal, which is expected to come online in December, the company in charge of the project said on Thursday. Klaipedos Nafta has signed a 10-year agreement with Norway's Hoegh LNG to lease a floating gas storage and regasification vessel, which will serve as an import terminal at the Baltic Sea port city of Klaipeda. Majority state-owned Klaipedos Nafta said in the agenda for its July 3 shareholder meeting that it expects to pay up to 112 million litas ($44 million) for the test LNG shipment. Litgas, the gas trading arm of Lithuanian energy group Lietuvos Energija…