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Simonas Gentvilas, head of the Environment Ministry, alluded to this, commenting on the reasons for the recent rapid decline in crude production.
According to data from the Statistics Department, last year crude oil was extracted in Lithuania for at least two decades, about 32 thousand. tons, or 8 thousand. tons less than in previous years.
The most successful year for oil companies was 2001, when almost half a million tons of black gold were extracted from the depths of Lithuania. Since then, oil production has been steadily declining.
Traditional hydrocarbons (petroleum) in Lithuania are extracted only from the explored fields of the interior. According to the Geological Survey, there are fourteen of them in Lithuania and oil production has been suspended in four more.
Permits to use these resources were issued to eight companies, the largest of which is LOTOS Geonafta. It also owns the subsidiaries Manifoldas and Genčių Nafta, which have licenses to exploit oil fields.
Of the licensed companies, only five were involved in oil production last year. Entrepreneurs do not comment on the reasons for the drastic decline in oil production.
The Environment Minister, S. Gentvilas, says there are at least some of them, but the main one is that almost all the oil fields in operation on land are being dismantled and no new ones are being explored.
According to the minister, a tender was announced for the extraction of resources in the Tauragė and Šilutė oil fields, still unexplored.
“But there were no people who wanted to participate. For locals, this project turned out to be too complicated, and for foreign investors, too small,” said S. Gentvilas.
Another important reason is the significant drop in oil prices on world markets last year. As a result, it did not pay companies to extract it during the pandemic.
By the way, Lithuania has not legalized the production of oil at sea, does not allow its extraction from the fields under the Curonian lagoon. “We do not agree that this should happen near a protected area,” Gentville said.
Oil production will not be encouraged
The minister hinted that Lithuania could be moving towards a complete restriction of oil production. “It just came to our knowledge then. We are satisfied with the remarkable natural decrease in the extraction of these resources and the Ministry is considering the possibility of completely stopping their extraction on land,” the head of the ministry did not hide.
In addition, S. Gentvilas admitted that the Ministry is considering the possibility of requesting Russia to pay for the oil extracted from the D6 field operated in the Kaliningrad region, near the border with Lithuania.
The offshore platform D6 is visible from Nida beach and, according to S. Gentvilas, the reservoir is likely to cover the territory of both states.
In this case, according to world practice, the operators of this reservoir must share in the benefits.
“It is true that Lithuania should first examine this deposit and show that the Russians are pumping the oil that belongs to us. Such exploration of the entire maritime economic zone would cost us between 3 and 5 million. And now it is being considered whether this is profitable for us. In addition, this research is of interest to science in our country, “said the head of the Ministry of the Environment.
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