Lithuania Signs up New Supplier of US LNG

Lithuania’s Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas (LDT), the gas trading arm of state-controlled energy holding Lietuvos Energija, signed a trade agreement with the Spanish LNG market leader Natural Gas Fenosa and purchased from it an LNG cargo. LDT says the Fenosa LNG batch will be delivered to the Klaipeda LNG terminal in mid-September from US Sabine Pass LNG terminal.

“The liquefied natural gas which will soon be delivered to Lithuania from the US is great news showing competition of global companies for the supply of natural gas to Lithuania. Such competition is always beneficial for our consumers. The second contract on the supply of LNG from the US in less than a month and the expanding geography of LNG suppliers are specific instruments that help ensure the lowest possible gas prices for consumers of Lithuania and other Baltic States,” said the prime minister Saulius Skvernelis July 12.

“About 140,000-150,000 m³ of LNG will be delivered from the US. The US gas price is not necessarily cheaper than that on the European market – it was the decision by Natural Gas Fenosa to bring it here from overseas,” Paulius Jakutavicius, LDT spokesman, told NGW.

According to him, part of the volume is expected to be stored in Latvia’s Inchukalns underground gas storage facility for resale later. LDT had received its first gas cargo this year from a US gas company, Cheniere Marketing International, in late June. “Both volumes are nearly identical,” the company official noted.

Commenting on the agreement with Natural Gas Fenosa, Lietuvos Energija CEO Dalius Misiunas said that the extra gas was bought in view of the needs of customers in Lithuania and other Baltic states. “Global LNG production capacities have increased market liquidity and spot deal supply. Such a situation has created opportunities to purchase LNG at competitive prices, which is beneficial for gas consumers in the region. The strategy to diversify sources of supply by combining agreements of different duration has definitely proved to be successful,” he said.

This will be the fourth LNG cargo of Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas this year, with Natural Gas Fenosa being the fourth LNG supplier to Lithuania. The others are Statoil, US Koch and Cheniere.

Linas Jegelivicius