Ministry proposes to the Government to reduce maintenance of LNG terminal Business



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This means that most of the losses currently incurred due to extremely expensive Equinor gas will be transferred to the state-controlled Ignitis Group. Furthermore, in this case, gasoline prices for all consumers would drop in price by several percent from January of next year; the additional component of the gasoline price alone would decrease by about 30 percent. says the Minister of Energy.

The Ministry will propose to the Government to reduce the number of required quantities of LNG purchased by Ignitis, a subsidiary of the Ignitis Group, from four to two per year. Under the 10-year contract, the cargo is purchased from the Norwegian company Equinor (formerly Statoil) at a much higher price than on the market.

“Now the market can provide the necessary supply thanks to the LNG terminal more efficient than ever, and should not be overpaid at the expense of gas consumers,” Energy Minister Žygimantas Vaičiūnas said in the report.

Žygimantas Gedvila / 15min photo / Žygimantas Vaičiūnas

Žygimantas Gedvila / 15min photo / Žygimantas Vaičiūnas

According to the ministry, users of commercial LNG terminals will buy at least 10 large shipments of LNG next year. Last year and this year 20 of those shipments arrived.

In addition, the Seimas will be proposed to amend the LNG terminals law and compensate Igničius for up to 10% of the remaining two cargoes. The difference between Equinor gas and market gas prices. Now gas consumers are making up the total difference by four charges; this year, this amount will reach 25 million. It is expected to rise to 35 million euros next year. euros.

According to Ž.Vaičiūnas, the necessary supply costs in 2021, after taking both decisions, are projected to reach only 6.5-7 million. euros.

“The next part will depend on the ability of Ignytis and Equinor to review the contract or seek other solutions,” the energy minister previously told BNS.

Darius Montvila, general manager of Ignitis, has said that the current regulation, as well as the long-term obligations of the state until 2024, should not be changed.

Under the agreement signed with Equinor in 2014 and subsequently adjusted, Lithuania committed to purchase the minimum amount of LNG necessary for the operation of the Klaipėda terminal for 10 years: four large ships per year.

Ž.Vaičiūnas previously said that the contract is inflexible. He said he had already asked the Norwegian government last year to mediate and change the agreement, but received no response.

The then Litgas (now Ignitis) had already renegotiated the 2014 gas supply deal with Equinor. At the beginning of 2016, the parties signed a renewed agreement: the pricing formula was changed, it was closer to the prices of gas supplied by pipelines, and the annual volume of gas was reduced by about a third from about 5.5 to 3.6 TWh (or 540 million to 350 million cubic meters). , and the contract has been extended until the end of 2024, when the contract for the constitution of independence expires.

However, with the significant drop in LNG prices on the world market in recent years, Equinor gas has become very expensive. Based on the terminal capacity model, Ignitis sells gas to market participants at an average market price, and the difference between the market and Equinor’s gas prices is offset by the terminal component, which is paid by all gas consumers.



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