In an interview with BNS, the minister said that decisions on potential sale of Norwegian natural gas to Lithuania would be made on the commercial basis and the government will not interfere.
"When it comes to gas agreements, they are in principle commercial, so it is an issue of the market. But what we, as politicians, want to do is to lay foundations for as integrated energy market in Europe as possible," the minister said.
Norway is currently the largest gas supplier to the European Union.
Lithuanian officials have said on numerous occasions that they see Norway as a potential supplier after an LNG terminal is built in the Lithuanian western port of Klaipėda by the end of 2014. Norwegian company Hoegh LNG is building a special ship to transport gas to the terminal. Russia is currently the main gas supplier to Lithuania.
Eide underlined that gas is more environmentally-friendly than oil but said that the government is not the one who decides where to export it to.
"We are trying to help to facilitate the development of the European energy market where gas has a good role to play. Here we have shared interests with Lithuania," the Norwegian foreign minister said.
