Lithuanian LNG Terminal Signs up Fifth Buyer
Estonian gas group Elenger has become the fifth company to start importing gas via Lithuania’s Klaipeda LNG terminal, the facility’s operator Klaipedos Nafta (KN) said on November 4. Its first ordered LNG cargo should arrive at the Klaipeda terminal in the second half of November.
“This grants us access to the global market and means more reasonable prices to our clients as there are more sources of supply available,” Elenger board member Margus Kaasik said, according to KN.
The 4bn m3/yr Klaipeda terminal enters operations in 2014 but has often struggled to utilise its capacity because of competition from Russian gas. It managed to expand imports by 40% in the first nine months of this year, however, on the back of low international LNG prices and increased demand in Lithuania. Some 31 LNG carriers unloaded at the facility in the period, up from only eight a year earlier.
Estonian power utility Eesti Energia signed up to receive gas from the terminal in August, taking its first cargo in September. The terminal’s other three clients are all Lithuanian. They are fertiliser producer Achema, state-owned energy group Lietuvos Energijos Tiekimas (LET) and commodities trader Imlitex.