Unbundling key to LNG

  • 2011-02-16
  • From wire reports

TALLINN - The prime ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, at an informal meeting of the Baltic Council of Ministers in Estonia on Feb. 11, said that they are looking to European Union money to build a single liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to serve the whole region, reports ELTA/DPA. Speaking during a meeting in Vihula, the leaders said a single terminal would make more sense than current plans for competing terminals in each country.

“We must have just one very efficient terminal for the three Baltic States,” said Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip. Ansip was meeting with his counterparts from Latvia and Lithuania, Valdis Dombrovskis and Andrius Kubilius.
“It is clear beyond doubt that three terminals are far too many for the Baltic States, so we must join forces and we must be able to use European Union taxpayers’ and our own taxpayers’ money more efficiently,” he said.
Ansip stressed that no firm plans were yet in place, and no mention was made of a possible location or cost for what would be a major infrastructure project.

In recent weeks a spat had been brewing between Latvia and Lithuania, both of which have plans for their own LNG terminals, with Lithuania expressing concern that a Latvian terminal might act as an export point for Russia’s Gazprom.
Estonia has also expressed an interest in having its own LNG terminal.

“The regional LNG project is one of the potential projects which could get financing from the EU budget, so it’s really important that we act in a coordinated manner to ensure this possible EU financing,” Dombrovskis said.
Prime Minister Kubilius assured his Latvian and Estonian colleagues that Lithuania planned to build a small liquefied gas terminal and pointed out that it would not aim at becoming a “very big regional project.” If the project is recognized as regional it can claim support from the European Union.

“As the president [Dalia Grybauskaite] said at a Feb. 10 meeting with Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, we plan to build a small LNG terminal in Klaipeda. It does not aim at becoming a big regional project, regional projects can be talked about later and we will do it. Any terminal, whether it is in Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia, will not function without the unbundling principle, which Lithuania has started implementing. Our neighbors haven’t done this yet, so there is a full range of matters [for discussion] about electricity and gas issues,” Andrius Kubilius said.

Prime Minister Ansip said that although talks are still under way to build a new Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania, if that plan fails, Estonia has to think about building its own nuclear power plant, reported Postimees Online. Ansip said that Lithuania is the best place for building the nuclear power plant since they have the necessary know-how and legal environment, while in Estonia, everything would have to be started from scratch.

Kubilius stressed that it was important for the Baltic States to produce the electricity needed in the region locally.
In regard to gas terminals, the states are not of as united an opinion as in electricity issues. “By now both Latvia and Lithuania have decided to build their own liquefied natural gas terminals; in Estonia, too, several builders are ready to build the terminal. There is no room for three or more terminals in the Baltic States, though,” commented Ansip.

Energy issues were one of the main topics that the three Baltic States prime ministers discussed at their meeting in the Vihula manor in northern Estonia last Thursday and Friday, and all three prime ministers expressed their pleasure over the plan to create a pan-European energy grid by 2015.