Imports Soar at Klaipeda LNG

Lithuania’s sole LNG terminal has achieved record utilisation rates in recent months as LNG is cheaper now than Russian gas supplies, its operator Klaipedos Nafta (KN) has said.

The terminal in Klaipeda regasified 2.43 TWh of natural gas in June, almost twice as much as in the same month last year and enough to cover 96% of Lithuanian demand, KN said in a statement on July 8. Import volumes in April and May were also higher, by 28.3% and 21% yr/yr respectively.

The facility received 6.42 TWh of gas in the first six months of the year, data published earlier by KN shows, up from 4.52 TWh in the first half of 2018. It earned €37.4mn ($42mn) in sales revenues in the period, up 14.7% yr/yr.

“Demand for the Klaipeda LNG terminal’s capacity continues to be supported by favourable conditions on the international market,” Arunas Molis, KN’s head of LNG operations explained. He said for several months, regasified LNG has been cheaper than gas "imported via remote long-distance pipelines.”

According to KN, the terminal's capacity is fully booked for the next gas year (October 1 2019 - September 30 2020).

Klaipeda LNG was launched in 2014, enabling Lithuania to tap alternative supplies to those offered by Russia’s Gazprom. It can bring ashore up to 4bn m³/yr of gas, or around 44 TWh, but its use has steadily dropped in recent years as Gazprom has lowered prices to protect its market share. The terminal imported just 9.2 TWh of gas last year, down from 12.6 TWh in 2017 and 14.6 TWh 2016.

Klaipeda LNG is likely to post strong performance this month as well, as repairs take place on the main pipeline that carries Russian gas to Lithuania.