Achema Sues EC Over LNG Vessel Funding

Three years after the European Commission (EC) authorized state aid for the Klaipeda liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal off Lithuania’s Baltic coast, Achema – the Baltics’ single largest natural gas consumer – is suing to have the decision annulled and for the EC to pay all the costs that Achema has incurred.

To date, its mandatory payments to support the €117mn terminal are estimated to exceed €50mn. The terminal’s infrastructure includes the 170 000m³ floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), known as vessel Independence – so called because it freed Lithuania from Russian gas.

Achema said it contests the 2013 EC decision as it was formed on the basis of incomplete information from Lithuania. For example, Achema had been denied permission by the Lithuanian authorities to build its own LNG terminal. Also, the terminal’s capacity is larger than Lithuania’s actual needs; and data on the use and prospects for the use of the terminal were not disclosed, claims Gintaras Balciunas, the chairman of the Board of Achema and the chief lawyer of the company.

Independence at Klaipeda jetty

(Credit: Klaipedos Nafta)

He told NGW that there were three further complaints that Achema has lodged with the EC against Lithuania over what he calls breaches of energy, state support and public procurement directives by Lithuania. 

Linas Jegelevicius

For more on this, please see the forthcoming issue of Natural Gas World on November 16.