Gazprom not Planning More Baltic Auctions

Gazprom will not hold a second gas auction to the Baltic States, a representative of Gazprom’s subsidiary, Gazprom Export, says. In an auction held for the Baltics last March, the Russian gas monopoly sold more than 420mn m³ to six Baltic buyers for April-September delivery, including Lithuania’s gas traders Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas (LDT), Haupas and fertilizer producer Achema.

Lithuania’s energy minister Rokas Masiuliss says that Gazprom’s decision will not cause “any trouble” for Lithuania, as gas is available on the LNG market.

Hoegh's FSRU Independence at Klaipeda, Lithuania (Credit: Litgas)

“In any case, we will go for the best price… We do not see any problems. All suppliers carry (gas) on the biggest ships, you buy on the market, you see a good price and you have gas delivered to you by a large ship,” Masiulis said.

Meanwhile, Dalius Misiunas, CEO of the state energy group Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy), also emphasizes that Lithuania has access to the gas market. He did not rule out the possibility that Gazprom might continue to sell gas under bilateral contracts, but did not elaborate whether the company is in talks over that with the Russian company.

In auction last March, Gazprom offered 560mn m³ of gas for delivery near the Lithuania-Belarus border, but only 420mn m³ were purchased.

Lithuania set to acquire more than a half of its gas needs from Norway’s Statoil this year, around 1.35bn m³ in total; the remainder of about d 0.7bn m³ is expected to come from Gazprom, Statoil or other suppliers.

Linas Jegelevicius