Estonia and Finland are likely to agree on a site for a Baltic liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal later this year in time to obtain EU funding, Lithuania’s energy minister said yesterday.
The European Union has said it could fund the
regional LNG terminal to help wean the three Baltic states and Finland
off their total dependence on Russia gas imports but that the countries
had to agree on the project among themselves.
The European Commission had set an initial deadline for an agreement by its summit next week.
“I’m not very optimistic from looking at what
we have in front of us regarding the decision on localisation before the
May 22 meeting, but I know that Estonia and Finland are engaged in very
active discussions,” Lithuania Energy Minister Jaroslav Neverovic told
Reuters as part of a series of interviews on the gas market.
They still have a few months to agree, said Neverovic, whose country is taking the EU’s rotating presidency in July.
“Our Baltic and Finnish colleagues share the
notion that it will be quite a blow to lose such an important part of
infrastructure if there is no agreement between the two countries,”
Neverovic said.
Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip told reporters yesterday the final deadline to agree on the site was end-June.
“If we do not reach an agreement by the end of
June, then the current funding allocation will pass. The next
opportunity for funding will be in 2016, but it may be that funding for
this project will no longer be available,” Ansip said in Tallinn.
A study for the European Commission last year
said Estonia and Finland would be the most suitable place to build the
terminal, which is estimated to cost €400mn to 500mn ($643.1mn).
Without an agreement, the terminal can’t be
included in the EU’s list of projects of common interest to obtain
funding. which is expected to be formally announced in Vilnius at the
beginning of November.
“Hopefully, by that time we will be able to say
that we have agreed on all elements of gas infrastructure in the Baltic
states and Finland,” Neverovic said.
Lithuania aims to have a separate, smaller LNG
terminal up and running by end-2014 to help it negotiate lower prices
with Russia’s Gazprom, currently its sole supplier. It is not asking for
EU funding.
“Right now Lithuania pays one of the biggest,
if not the biggest, price for gas in the EU ... and this is not
acceptable,” Neverovic said.
“I’m sure that the alternative gas supply
sources should be a very serious wake-up call to our partners,” he
added, in a reference to Gazprom.
Neverovic said Lithuania expected to have an
agreement to import LNG in place by the end of this year and that the
US, benefiting from a boom in shale gas supplies, might become its LNG
supplier.
“We look forward to the US government decision
to allow LNG exports, and we believe that it might have a very positive
impact for the global gas market, but also specifically in the
Lithuanian case.”
Post to be found at:
http://www.gulf-times.com/business/191/details/352880/baltic-lng-terminal-accord-likely-in-time-for-eu-funding
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