CIOB: Lithuania hopes new terminal will break Russian gas strangle-hold

Lithuania is rushing to complete its first liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal at the port of Klaipeda in order to end its total dependence on Russian gas.

On Thursday last week the Baltic state signed an LNG purchase deal with Norway’s state-owned oil and gas supplier, Statoil, for the supply of 540 million cubic metres of gas per year starting in 2015.

Key to Lithuania’s plan to break Russia’s monopoly is a special ship, a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) dubbed “Independence”, built in a South Korean shipyard and launched in February this year to sail to Klaipeda.

The ship will receive gas by tanker and regasify it for distribution via a new pipeline network around Lithuania and beyond.
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