The government approved in principle a description of the procedure for diversification of natural gas supply, which fixes the obligation, as set forth in the Law on LNG Terminal, for the country’s largest gas users to buy at least one-fourth of their gas supplies from the terminal.
“The requirement of diversification would be applied to, for example, Lietuvos Dujos (Lithuanian Gas), Dujotekana and other companies. All in all, it concerns five companies that import gas by pipelines to Lithuania and later resell it to others,” Energy Deputy Minister Žygimantas Vaičiūnas told BNS.
The description, the approval of which was provided for in the Law on LNG terminal, established the procedure for the implementation of diversification requirement, he added.
The biggest opponents of the so-called “25 percent rule” include Achema, Lithuania’s largest gas consumer that has already signed a long-term gas supply contract with Gazprom, as well as Lietuvos Dujos (Lithuanian Gas), which will see its contract with Gazprom expire at the end of 2015, and the Lithuanian Association of Heat Suppliers comprising the country's largest heat supply companies.
Achema has already filed a complaint against the rule to the European Commission (EC), which has recently sent a set of questions to the Energy Ministry as it tries to establish whether it should open a probe.
Social Democratic leader Algirdas Butkevičius, who is tipped to become Lithuania’s next prime minister, has said that the new authorities may review the 25-percent rule.
