Lithuania declares energy independence with offshore gas terminal
- 10 years ago
Lithuania has received it’s long awaited offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal. The vessel’s name: independence.
Anchoring in the former Soviet Republic the aim is to end the country’s dependency on Russian gas giant Gazprom which is the country’s sole supplier. Vlinius says its pay the highest price for gas in the EU.
Lithuania’s president says the new sources of gas will give them leverage in negotiating better prices with Gazprom.
Until 2009, Lithuania was dependent on a Chernobyl-style nuclear reactor, but it was closed as a condition of joining the EU, and unlike neighbouring Latvia it has no LNG storage capacity.
Three years of construction and more than 100 million euros later, the vessel could eventually supply up to 80 percent of the Baltic region’s demands.
Without the terminal, Lithuania would survive 4-5 days without Russian gas. Now its gas can be shipped from Norway and the US.
Anchoring in the former Soviet Republic the aim is to end the country’s dependency on Russian gas giant Gazprom which is the country’s sole supplier. Vlinius says its pay the highest price for gas in the EU.
Lithuania’s president says the new sources of gas will give them leverage in negotiating better prices with Gazprom.
Until 2009, Lithuania was dependent on a Chernobyl-style nuclear reactor, but it was closed as a condition of joining the EU, and unlike neighbouring Latvia it has no LNG storage capacity.
Three years of construction and more than 100 million euros later, the vessel could eventually supply up to 80 percent of the Baltic region’s demands.
Without the terminal, Lithuania would survive 4-5 days without Russian gas. Now its gas can be shipped from Norway and the US.