“As part of the negotiation process, a meeting between Alexey Miller and Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius and the representatives of the negotiating group is being organized in Vilnius. The representatives of Gazprom are expected to set out their position in the light of work performed by the negotiating group. Gazprom’s confirmation has already been received,” Butkevičius’ spokeswoman Evelina Butkutė Lazdauskienė told BNS.
Energy Minister Jaroslav Neverovič, the chair of the negotiating group, would also attend the meeting due on September 6, she added.
“I have to say that there are no concessions envisaged there [in Lithuania’s proposals to Gazprom]. As far as I know, those discussions mostly centered on further cooperation in the supply of gas to Kaliningrad, that is, on gas transit,” Butkevičius said in an interview to the Lithuanian Radio on Tuesday.
Talks had been ongoing at the expert level since April with the aim to agree on the terms of gas transit to Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad and possible solutions, Butkutė Lazdauskienė said. Moreover, Lithuania presented the results achieved while implementing the European Union’s (EU) Third Energy Package.
Butkevičius told BNS last week that Lithuania would not make any concessions to Gazprom, whether it concerned the Third Energy Package, a long-term gas supply contract or a suit with the Stockholm arbitration. He also said that he expected Gazprom to lower the price of gas for Lithuania by approximately one-fifth.
Unofficial sources earlier told BNS that Lithuania could drop lawsuits over a probe into the activities of Lietuvos Dujos (Lithuanian Gas), Lithuania’s gas supply company that is partly owned by Gazprom, and its management as well as a 5-billion litas (EUR 1.45b) claim filed with the Stockholm arbitration in exchange for cheaper gas from Gazprom.
Moreover, depending on the scale of discounts, Lithuania could reportedly agree to sign a new long-term gas supply deal for 2013–2020.
As far as 5 billion litas, which are the subject of one arbitration lawsuit, were concerned, Lithuania could recover that amount through discounts for future gas supplies.
