December 20, 2017 [The Baltic Course] - Lithuania will need the Klaipeda liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal after the expiry of the lease of Independence Floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) with Norway's Hoegh LNG in 2024, shows the initial analysis of perspectives of LNG imports to Lithuania conducted by Poyry Management Consulting, cites LETA/BNS.
“The conclusions of independent consultants and the scenarios analyzed in the initial phase of the study showed that the LNG terminal will yield obvious benefit after 2024, as well,” Aurelija Vernickaite, spokeswoman for Lithuania’s energy minister, told BNS.
In her words, a detailed analysis of cost and benefit should be completed by the end of March 2018. According to information available to BNS. Lithuania’s government intends to decide in 2018 to buy out the LNG vessel ahead of schedule to reduce the maintenance costs for consumers.
The contract with Hoegh LNG envisages that the vessel can be bought out in 10 years, i.e., in late 2024. In 2015, Lithuania held talks with the Norwegian company on an earlier purchase date, however, the company disagreed. Klaipedos Nafta (Klaipeda Oil) later intended to borrow 300 million euros from banks to buy out the vessel, however, the borrowing procedures were suspended after the start of consultations with the European Commission, Latvia and Estonia.
However, the three Baltic states failed to agree on a regional LNG terminal by this fall, thus losing the possibility of securing European support for buy-out of Independence.
—————————-
Learn how to unlock more key tank terminal data. Join the Free Webinar TankTerminals.com 2.0: Smart Business Decisions, Powered by Data. Date: February 7th, 2018.
