Baltic Gas Markets Loosen up
Lithuania’s state-controlled gas import company Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas (LDT) and fertilizer producer Achema are expecting Statoil's LNG carrier to dock February 16 in the port of Klaipeda. According to Achema CEO Ramunas Miliauskas and his LDT counterpart Mantas Mikalajunas, the tanker will deliver each company 70,000 m³.
In another development this week, Litgas, Lithuania’s state-controlled natural gas supplier and trader, is expected to sign a revised agreement with Statoil covering Norwegian gas deliveries upon more favorable conditions: less volume and a lower price. The signing of agreement between Statoil and Achema is also scheduled for the week. The respective agreement between Statoil and LDT was signed in the beginning of February.
Klaipeda to offer bulk-breaking service
Germany’s PPS Pipeline Systems and its Czech partner Chart Ferox, have won a contract to build an onshore LNG reloading station. The German company built the gas pipeline connecting Klaipeda LNG terminal to the country‘s gas grid. The €27.7mn contract was signed on February 12. Once the LNG reloading station is put in operation, expected in 15 months, Klaipedos Nafta plans to provide LNG bunkering and truck loading services to customers in the Baltic region.
“We believe that the winning contractor, which also took part in construction on the LNG terminal, is experienced and competent and will ensure timely implementation of the project. In our turn, we’ll be ready to pursue the goals that have been set and to meet market demand. The project will fully benefit the state, will empower to make yet more efficient use of the LNG terminal, will reduce its maintenance costs and create added value to the state and the port by way of developing a new business segment,” Klaipedos Nafta CEO, Mantas Bartuska, said. Klaipedos Nafta is operator of Klaipeda LNG terminal.
PPS Pipeline Systems and Chart Ferox are expected to carry out engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for the Klaipeda project.
Lithuania set to deliver gas to Latvia
After Latvia’s parliament voted last week to approve the unbundling of utility company Latvijas Gaze into two companies and to open up the natural gas market to competition, Lithuania’s Litgas, a state-controlled natural gas supplier and trader, intends to send the first gas delivery to neighbor country within “a month or so.”
However, Litgas CEO Vytautas Cekanavicius cautions that there are still things to be sorted out along the way.
“The permission has been given, but there are still things that are left up to Latvijas Gaze…. The situation is such that there are some what I call grey areas to be addressed… For example, if one wants to carry gas through Latvia, or bring it into the country, 30 days are needed to obtain permit for that from Latvijas Gaze…. Now we are talking with Latvia about the tentative delivery of our gas and want to see if this can happen. If all goes well, we believe we can do it within a month or so," he said.
Lithuania’s energy minister Rokas Masiulis hailed the Latvian government’s decision to liberalize the country’s gas market and believes it will alleviate the gas trade between two countries, saying it was "obvious that the government is determined to reduce the clout of single monopolist.”
Russia’s Gazprom holds a 34% stake in Latvijas Gaze. Another major shareholder was E.ON Ruhrgas, now Uniper. On January 28 it sold a 28.97% stake to the Luxembourg-based Marguerite Fund for an undisclosed sum, making Marguerite the second largest shareholder. Uniper will remain a shareholder of Latvijas Gaze with an 18.26 % stake.
Latvijas Gaze operates and maintains the Latvian gas transmission and gas distribution pipelines as well as the Incukalns underground gas storage facility, the third largest storage facility in the EU and a strategic asset for the security of gas supply in the Baltics. Latvijas Gaze also ensures the supply of natural gas to more than 400,000 domestic customers and provides gas to customers in Estonia, northwest Russia and Lithuania.
Marguerite Fund is owned by six European financial institutions and banks and has also €110mn from the European Commission, giving it €710mn in all. Other assets include stakes in a solar PV project and a windfarm offshore Germany.
Linas Jegelevicius