Lithuanian signs agreement to transport natural gas through Latvia
VLNIUS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) — Litgas, Lithuania’s state-controlled natural gas supply and trading company, signed an agreement on Friday for the transit of Lithuanian natural gas via pipelines in neighboring Latvia.
The agreement with Latvijas Gaze, Latvia’s natural gas transmission, storage, distribution, and sales operator, provides Lithuania with new opportunities to trade gas in the Baltic region, as the gas supply passes through Latvia, said Litgas.
“With such possibilities, we are becoming a regional natural gas trader able to transport gas to Estonia independently at attractive conditions,” Dominykas Tuckus, the general manager of Litgas, said in a statement. Litgas trades and provides natural gas supplies from the new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Klaipeda Seaport, which started its operations at the end of 2014.
Natural gas delivery to Estonia from the Lithuanian terminal was tested last December.
“Our transit agreement is also an important step towards a common and liberalized natural gas market in the Baltic countries, where real competition will prevail,” added Tuckus.
Latvia’s gas transmission and distribution system is essential to Lithuania’s ambitions to trade gas in the region, since Litgas has already signed two contracts to provide Estonian energy companies with natural gas, and supplies the first company with natural gas as from this month.
More natural gas supplies are expected to start flowing into Estonia as of March. Litgas revealed it was in negotiations with other potential consumers and expects to provide Estonia with up to 30 million cubic meters of natural gas this year.
The Lithuanian LNG terminal will receive 950,000 cubic meters of LNG annually, which is equivalent to 540 million cubic meters of natural gas.
