Prime Minister: agreement on regional SGD infrastructure package will reduce gas prices in the region

Tomorrow (Friday), at the invitation by the Prime Minister of Latvia, the Baltic Heads of Government will pay a visit to Inčukalns underground gas storage facility. Following the visit, the final agreement will be sought on the Baltic regional LNG infrastructure. Earlier on, the Baltic Prime Ministers have also went to Paldiski, where an LNG terminal is planned to be constructed, and paid a visit to Klaipėda LNG terminal.            

According to Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, this is a matter of urgency. Klaipėda LNG terminal, a mid-scale LNG terminal in Estonia and Inčukalns underground gas storage facility are complementary facilities; therefore, following an agreement, the European Union’s financial assistance could be sought for the implementation of this project of common interest.

“We want that the price for the liquefied natural gas would be reduced for the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian consumers. We can see a possibility to bring down the price by 5-7 per cent as of 2019”, said the Prime Minister.

It is estimated that the Lithuanian consumers could save at least EUR 38 million, the Latvian consumers, EUR 21 million, and the Estonian consumers, EUR 9 million each year due to the premature buyout of Klaipėda terminal by making use of the EU co-funding.

Saulius Skvernelis emphasizes that as until present, Lithuania is not going to seek participation of Latvia and Estonia in covering the maintenance and buyout costs of Klaipėda terminal.

According to the Prime Minister, following an agreement on the regional LNG infrastructure package, natural gas supply would be further diversified, additional opportunities for commercially viable cooperation among the companies would arise, and competitiveness of the liquefied gas would be enhanced, as compared to the Russian gas pipeline supplies.

That would also be useful for Inčukalns underground gas storage facility: more liquefied gas would be stored there. At present, the first ever liquefied natural gas cargo (from Nigeria) intended for storage is being pumped into the Latvian Inčukalns gas storage facility. It is planned that in the second half of august, the first liquefied natural gas cargo will arrive from the US, which will also be stored at the Latvian underground gas storage facility.