Cheniere Hopes to Take Stake in Lithuanian LNG Terminal

Cheniere Energy hopes to take a minority stake in a Lithuanian floating liquefied natural gas terminal.

The LNG terminal, which is being developed by Lithuanian company Klaipedos Nafta, is planned to handle an annual capacity of between 2 and 3 billion cubic metres of a year, breaking Lithuania's current dependence on Russia for gas supply.

Speaking at a conference in Vilnius, Lithuania today, Helena Wisden, senior trading manager at Cheniere Energy said that the company would like to take a minority stake in the project.

"[We] look forward to continuing negotiations with Klaipedos Nafta to supply Lithuania with LNG," she said.

Lithuania decided to build the LNG terminal last summer, with a proposed capacity that would meet Lithuania's entire gas needs. Construction is to begin in 2011 and the terminal should be built by 2014.

The Lithuanian government and Cheniere signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in May this year to assess and develop Lithuania's LNG needs. The signing also ensured that Cheniere would be the supplier of LNG for the Klaipedos terminal.

"[Under the signing] Cheniere would be the future LNG supplier for our Klaipeda LNG receiving terminal project being designed with an initial LNG import capacity between 1.5 to 2.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), with expansion capabilities," General Manager of Klaipedos Nafta Rokas Masiulis said at the time.

Cheniere says it will be ready to begin LNG export by late 2015,  Wisden said today.