“The idea of the decision is that the state, at any rate, is paying money to heat suppliers, Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy). We support electricity generation, spend that money to purchase gas specifically. Thus those orders would be diverted to the terminal through our decision. And gas will be specifically purchased from the terminal thus securing the minimum quantity which is required for the project to be commercially viable,” Jaroslav Neverovič told reporters after the government’s meeting on Monday.
The quantity of gas used by heat suppliers alone would suffice for the LNG facility to pay its way, he said.
“For this project to be fully viable in commercial terms, we need a certain minimum quantity, which is fully covered by the needs of heat suppliers and Lietuvos Energija,” the minister said.
He added that this decision would not harm the operations of the LNG facility and would reduce discrepancies between Lithuania’s and Community’s legislation.
The Energy Ministry has put forward a new scheme, under which all regulated electricity and heat producers will be obliged to purchase gas through a state-authorized supplier, which, in its turn, will have to purchase 540 million cubic meters of natural gas per year from the LNG facility.
Under the “25 percent rule”, as it is now, large gas consumers would have to purchase 25 percent of their annual gas supplies from the LNG facility and another 25 percent from Russia’s Gazprom, Lithuania’s sole gas supplier, starting in 2015.
The terminal is planned to be launched in late 2014, with about a billion cubic meters of gas expected to be pumped via the facility in the first year of operation. It is planned that the LNG terminal in Klaipėda will have an annual capacity of 2 billion to 3 billion cubic meters.
Lithuania consumes about 3 billion cubic meters of gas annually.
