Gazprom wants Lithuania to extend its long-term gas supply contract with the Russian concern until 2020 and to oblige to ensure reliable transit of gas to Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, a draft memorandum between the Lithuanian government and Russia’s concern, which has been put forward by Gazprom and has been obtained by BNS, reads.
According to the document, Lithuania and Gazprom would “freeze the running legal procedures at Lithuanian courts or at arbitration courts either against each other or against Lietuvos Dujos” (Lithuanian Gas) “and its management and members of the Board of Directors until negotiations” on the long-term contract and transit to Kaliningrad were finished.
“In any case, such freezing shall not be longer than until October 2014 unless a mutual agreement is reached to completely stop said procedures”, the document reads.
If the negotiations were not finished successfully, the ownership unbundling of Lietuvos Dujos would be postponed by one year, until October 31, 2015.
According to the document, if those requirements were fulfilled, Gazprom will agree to lower the price of gas by 20 percent from as early as April 1.
The document says that the tariffs for the transit of natural gas to Kaliningrad shall not be discriminatory compared to the prices of comparable services in other European countries. Moreover, Lithuania will also have to ensure that natural gas supplied by Gazprom will not be treated “discriminatory to natural gas from other sources”.
Prime Minister denies having received any offers from Gazprom
Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius comments that Lithuania has not received any proposals from Gazprom on lower prices of gas. An expert group, to be led by Energy Minister Jaroslav Neverovič, will be set up, he adds.
Moreover, the representatives of the European Commission (EC) will be invited to take part in the negotiations between Lithuania and Gazprom, according to Butkevičius.
“We will invite them to join that task group, which will hold talks with the Russian party,” says the prime minister.
“We haven’t got any discounts from Gazprom. Also, we haven’t got any proposals from Gazprom so far. I asked the experts, those who attended the meeting, or the ministry representatives once again today. I asked them where that information had come from, whether they had that information that Gazprom proposed to lower the price of gas for us by 20 percent. The answer was very simple – that it’s a lie and it's not true,” Prime Minister told reporters on Friday.
Asked whether other companies, which were related with Gazprom, might offer discounts under certain conditions, Butkevičius reiterated that there were no proposals.
On Friday afternoon, the government hosted a meeting of ministry representatives who discussed a proposal to set up an expert group for negotiations with Gazprom.
