Latvia, Poland, Estonia Turn to EU After Hitting LNG Stalemate

Prime ministers from Latvia, Poland and Estonia have turned to the EU for guidance after once again failing to reach an agreement on the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal. 

The ministers met at the end of last week to discuss the terminal, with no agreement met on which country the terminal will be constructed in. The EU will now commission a study to decide which country the terminal will be built in.

Each country has already conducted a study into the viability of the project in their home country.

Prime Minister for Estonia Andrus Ansip said that the decision would now be put in the hands of the European Commission.

"We decided today to accept the  European Commission’s expert opinion that would find out which paths of gas supply would be the friendliest for our consumer and also the safest," he told journalists in Tallinn on Thursday. "This study should focus on the location of the future LNG terminal and the possibility to link our gas networks with Poland."

A spokeswoman for European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said the Commission would take over the decision following a study. She did not give a timeline for when the results could be expected.