"The commission today approved the terms and conditions of the separation, submitted by Lietuvos Dujos, which state in principle that Lietuvos Dujos is properly and timely prepared to implement the requirements of the EU's third energy package. It was also confirmed that the submitted list of assets, which has to fairly distribute the assets among the activities, meets such criteria," Vygantas Vaitkus, a member of the National Control Commission for Prices and Energy, told reporters after the regulatory authority's meeting on Thursday.
Vaitkus said that under the terms and conditions, a new company that will take over gas transmission operations is to be established by July 31.
"This means that by July 31, a new company will be established that will carry out transmission activities on a temporary basis. I say 'temporary' because the license will be temporary, until a final decision is made by the end of 2014 on how control of this company is to be reorganized," he said.
Saulius Bilys, the head of the Strategic Development Unit at Lietuvos Dujos, told reporters after the meeting that the terms and conditions will be published on the NASDAQ OMX Vilnius website on March 7. Bilys said that Lietuvos Dujos will continue to sell natural gas, but did not comment in detail on the separation.
"The newly-established company will carry out natural gas transmission, as provided for in laws, and Lietuvos Dujos will continue operations in the natural gas trade and distribution sectors," he said.
Lietuvos Dujos' unbundling plan, approved by the regulator last year, calls for its gas transmission activities to be spun off into a new company by July 31, 2013, and distribution activities to be transferred to a newly-established subsidiary by October 31, 2014.
As part of the reorganization, which is aimed at bringing the company into line with the EU's third energy package and is to be completed by October 2014, the spun-off company will own the gas transmission pipelines, Lietuvos Dujos will continue to operate as a gas supplier and the newly established subsidiary will take over the distribution functions and pipelines.
Russia's Gazprom currently owns 37.06 percent of shares in Lietuvos Dujos, E.ON Ruhrgas International holds 38.9 percent, and the Energy Ministry holds 17.7 percent.
Lietuvos Dujos is quoted on the blue-chip Main List of the Vilnius stock exchange.