Baltic Course: Lithuania environment min: shale gas exploration tender has to be continued

Lithuanian Minister of Environment Valentinas Mazuronis says that his position about the shale gas exploration tender does not change: it has to be continued, reports LETA/ELTA

"My position both as of a citizen and a minister is very clear: the tender has to be continued," he said Wednesday in an interview to the radio Ziniu Radijas.

The minister said that he had talked about shale gas with EU's ministers of environment during their meeting in Dublin.

"We will include the shale gas issue on the agenda of informal meeting of ministers in Vilnius in July. Everybody, next to applying environmental safeguards, sees the perspective of moving forward," Mazuronis said.

The minister reminded that the shale gas exploration will not cost anything to the state.

In late March, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius said that the execution of a shale-gas exploration agreement with Chevron Corp. would be deferred until Parliament amends laws to strengthen environmental regulations.

Last year Chevron purchased half of the Lithuanian oil and gas company LL Investicijos and in January submitted the only bid in a tender for shale-gas exploration rights in the Baltic nation.

Source: Baltic Course/Natural Gas Europe files