Vice Chairman of the Achema Group Board of Directors on the new Seimas: expectations are the same, so as not to hinder business | Deal

Expectations are the same

“The expectations are the same, not to hinder business, but to help,” responded G. Balčiūnas when asked what he expects from the future ruling majority of the Seimas and the government, regardless of what policy they adopt.

The relationship of concern with governments has been quite complicated for some time. Achema Group still owes 11.5 million. As a result, the courts and the European Commission are resolving the so-called PSO tax, which promotes green energy. However, the Achema Group cannot recover the PSO electricity tax credit if it has not paid this tax. If he could, he would have recovered 2.8 million last year. euros.

However, G.Balčiūnas does not agree that the company should pay such a fee in principle: “We pay an additional fee for the fact that we produce electricity ourselves. Even in the previous government, we criticized Minister Rokas Masiulis for the fact that the PSO tax for his energy production was higher than for purchased energy, from Russia or Scandinavia. This does not encourage the construction of new generations of electricity in Lithuania. Now the same PSO tax is valid for both own products and purchases in Russia.

We pay an additional fee for producing electricity ourselves.

That, I think, is also wrong. The PSO tax on the electricity we produce should be non-existent or minimal if we want to be independent, and energy is one of the guarantors of independence, which is what we are talking about. The infrastructure that is being established, as with the gas terminal and other things, is disproportionately large and represents a burden on all payers and companies in terms of costs. “

According to G. Balčiūnas, the possibility approved by the Ministry of Energy to recover part of the PSO tax was in part an initiative of concern and the Confederation of Industrialists of Lithuania: “We collect material that all Western European countries offset the PSO tax in this way – if the investments are aimed at saving energy, then use the funds from that fund. After long deliberations and promises, this outgoing government has made decisions about the possibilities of the OSPs to recover part of the OSPs paid through investments, but we still cannot use them ”.

Another disagreement is the LNG terminal

G. Balčiūnas hinted at the LNG terminal not by chance. This is another pain of this concern, because the disputes with the Government have been taking place for several years. Last year alone, Achema Group paid LTL 24 million. LNG terminal fee.

“We offered cheaper options, those amounts vary significantly. The terminal will be paid, according to my estimates, about 800 million. total. That’s what I think a terminal of this size costs much less. Poland has built 5 billion. puppy. m terminal for 390 million. euros. Our numbers are about three times higher, “said G. Balčiūnas.

Due to the LNG terminal, our position that we are against the terminal is sometimes misrepresented. We are not in front of the terminal.

However, according to the vice president of the board, the position of Grupo Achema is often misrepresented: “Due to the LNG terminal, our position that we are against the terminal is sometimes misrepresented. We are not in front of the terminal. 13 studies were produced out of concern about the terminal – its possible locations, types, etc. However, another expensive option was chosen, sometimes we do not speak with the state, because the decisions that are made sometimes do not have economic logic, and economic logic is very important to us ”.

Economic logic is lacking

G.Balčiūnas does not hide and, as he himself says, his subjective opinion that many times people who work in state institutions lack economic thinking, they do not look at economic interests, but political ones.

“Maybe you don’t understand some things and implement those measures that could be cheaper to implement. That way, all consumers, of course, and we would pay less than we pay now, said a spokesman for the group’s board. – Nobody heard us. There were several questions about whether we wanted to contribute, and when we asked for information about the terminal as a business model, we did not receive it. “

Maybe you don’t understand some things and implement those measures that could be cheaper to implement.

Another project criticized by the vice chairman of the Achema Group board of directors is the construction of an outer port in Klaipeda. According to G. Balčiūnas, the current port of Klaipeda uses only 50-60 percent. its potential, so the incomprehensible desire to spend billions on new infrastructure.

“There are no new cargoes to attract due to the geopolitical situation in Russia and Belarus. Because the cargo in the port is distributed as follows: one third from Lithuania, one third from Belarus, one third from Russia, that basket is It’s about that. And when it comes to large infrastructures that will have to be covered by someone, what will they be covered with? – suggested G. Balčiūnas for consideration. – We do not support this idea of ​​an outer port, because there must be a clear reason and a fee for that project, but unfortunately there are slogans, political things, and there are no real calculations of how much it will cost and what it will be, only the ideas are beautiful.

Here, as a family, buying a new car or building a new house, or buying a helicopter is beautiful, great, it’s just a question of how much it costs and who will pay for it. “

I would like long term plans

He mentioned something else that was difficult to talk about with the outgoing government: the so-called “Klaipeda package”, amendments to the laws that tighten the control and prevention of environmental pollution, which were approved by the Seimas in January this year, after of pollution incidents in Lithuania.

“It is necessary to understand that the companies operating in Lithuania did not appear yesterday, they have been working since ancient times and it is impossible to change the activities of the company so suddenly. We need to understand that, to establish a plan, just as the President of the European Commission is now talking about the European Green Course. What is being done is setting a deadline for the implementation of those measures for 2050, anticipating how much money will be needed to implement those measures and moving towards that goal. We observe progress every year, we follow it.

You have to understand that the companies operating in Lithuania did not appear yesterday, they have been working since ancient times and it is impossible to change the activities of the company so suddenly.

In Lithuania, politicians are behaving very strangely, they say: now we will pass a law and you will enforce it. There was a deadline in environmental laws: January 1, 2022, but suddenly the Ministry of the Environment comes up with the idea that it will be November 1 of this year, half a year later. After all, this is how environmental measures can be implemented. A simple car wash, if we talk about KLASCO, to build, where to wash arriving trucks, wash wagons, etc., needs to be designed, needs to prepare an EIA, takes 180 days, needs to prepare projects, announce tender, build, is not possible in six months. In two years, it may be possible to have money and plan the funds, ”said G. Balčiūnas.

Fear of not being able to compete

Achema Group does not hide that it would be much easier to compete in the global market if it received Lithuanian state aid. Suppose Achema 80 percent. It exports its products to Western Europe and beyond, which means that it has to compete with producers in other countries.

“The conditions must be the same for everyone, with the same Polish Azoty Group. Politicians must understand that if they set different conditions, toughen the requirements in Lithuania, we lose competitiveness in other countries. Or then we lose that industry, but we have to calculate what the real losses are, not that we say we will close everything, ”said G. Balčiūnas.

Politicians must understand that if they set different conditions, toughen the requirements in Lithuania, we lose competitiveness in other countries.

G.Balčiūnas also responded to the question about the purchase of gas from the largest Russian private company Novatek – BNS announced this last spring, but Achema Group did not comment on the information at the time.

Buy gasoline where it is cheapest

According to Ramūnas Miliauskas, CEO of Achema, the company does not buy gas from Novatek, but from another company, which also bears this name in its name, but the shareholders and the company itself are different.

G. Balčiūnas added that the amount of gas purchased from that company is very small: it was only 4 million times. puppy. m of gas, when in turn other ships arrive carrying 130-135 million. puppy. subway.

“These are small boats here and they are cheaper, we can buy cheaper gasoline. We really look at where the costs are lowest, we don’t buy gas where it is most expensive.

We try to avoid any political connection or other political things, we do not get involved in politics, we are a commercial company.

If we talk about products of Russian origin, it is not just gas, then we should be talking about other products so as not to buy anything from there. Especially if there is cheaper. For example, currently wood is bought, perhaps grain in some cases, the same fertilizer that Lithuania does not produce: potassium, phosphorus. Maybe such state policy is necessary, but I find it difficult to imagine that it is possible not to trade with Russia at all, there is probably no country that does. We try to avoid any political connection or other political things, we don’t get involved in politics, we are a commercial company, ”said G. Balčiūnas.