VILNIUS - The Achema Group has announced interest in building a liquefied petroleum gas terminal in the Baltic state and possibly even investing in Africa as the group, one of Lithuania's largest industrial conglomerates, plans it long-term energy needs.
"We will be willing to participate in the LPG terminal project in Lithuania, perhaps even in Africa, and have the majority interest in it," Bronislovas Lubys, the group's president and key shareholder, told a news conference.
"This would be a terminal capable of receiving LPG from anywhere. Its prospective location will be shown by a study 's it might even be on Latvian territory," Lubys added.
The government, however, has yet to decide on a study into feasibility of such a terminal, according to reports.
Achema's fertilizer plant, the group's main company, consumes some 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, more than a third of Lithuania's entire gas consumption.
Following the closure of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, gas consumption in the Baltic state is estimated to grow to some 5.5 billion cubic meters per year from the current 3.5 billion.
Lubys said the Achema Group was looking for opportunities to invest in Africa. In a couple of years the concern would decide on investments in Nigeria and other African countries rich in crude and gas resources.
"We have been approached with interesting proposals to build fertilizer plants," he said, adding that Achema was also promised concessions for some 20-25 years and guarantees for cheap gas.
"We are somewhat scared by the unstable situation in those countries, and we would only go there with Western and local partners," Lubys noted.
Lubys announced that the group's revenues last year amounted to 3.7 billion litas (1 billion euros), a surge of 45.4 percent versus the year-earlier figure of 2.5 billion litas.
Lubys, who owns 51 percent of the Achema Group, attributed the rise to higher fertilizer prices on global markets and an increase in natural gas prices.
The turnover of the Achema fertilizer plant, the key company of the concern, rose by 65 percent, year-on-year to 1.5 billion litas.
