“I have understood that there would be no competition or harm to each other, because the Lithuanian project is a local one, and the other – where it will be located we don't know yet – will be a regional one. I don't see any problem with that,” Sauli Niinisto said at a news conference in Vilnius on Tuesday.
Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaitė added that Lithuania was building the LNG facility for its own needs.
“Our terminal is being built mainly for Lithuania’s needs. Moreover, it will be built much faster than the regional terminal… Having as many as two terminals in the region, we will be able to exert greater influence and put bigger pressure so as to bring the price of pipeline gas down significantly,” she said.
A study conducted by the consulting company Booz&Company on behalf of the European Commission (EC) has identified the Gulf of Finland, either in Estonia or in Finland, as the best location for building a regional LNG terminal.
Lithuania’s authorities have stated repeatedly that the LNG terminal in Klaipėda will be able to play a regional role and supply gas to the neighboring Baltic countries. Lithuania plans to build its own LNG terminal with the annual capacity of between 2 and 3 billion cubic meters by the end of 2014.
The regional terminal would supply gas to the Baltic countries and Finland, which are now fully dependent on suppliers in Russia. The facility would be eligible for the Community‘s financial support.
