The Governmental Commission on the Economic Infrastructure Development of Lithuania approved current decisions regarding the acquisition of an LNG storage vessel in 2024. Lithuania believes that the ship can ensure competitive gas prices and the lowest LNG infrastructure maintenance cost in the short and the long term.
Namely, two main alternatives have been assessed. These are the long-term rent of the terminal after 2024 and the acquisition of the terminal. The decision to acquire LNG terminal after 2024 provides the consumer with the maximum benefit. When adopting decision regarding the terminal acquisition after 2024, this would distribute the terminal maintenance costs under the current model for a longer period. It will also reduce the LNG infrastructure maintenance costs for the consumers by EUR 23 million as from 2019 (from EUR 66 million to EUR 43 million).
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What is more, according to a study by the international independent consulting company ‘Pöyry Management Consulting’, the LNG terminal in Lithuania will remain the main tool to put pressure on gas prices. Specifically, failure to assure the import of LNG supply will lead to insufficient competitive pressure on Russian gas prices.
Klaipėdos Nafta commented on the occasion:
The LNG terminal eliminates the risks related to Gazprom (the dominating supplier in the region) possibilities of abuse of the dominating position in the market and its unreasonable increase of gas import prices for consumers.
Experts believe that without this terminal, Gazprom could increase the Russian gas import prices by up to 20%, with the annual amount overpaid possibly reaching EUR 160 million.
The Plan of Implementing Measures of the Government Programme specifies that decisions regarding the long-term assurance of LNG supply must be adopted before the end of 2018.
