Company briefs - 2011-07-14

Klaipedos Nafta, which operates Lithuania’s oil terminal on the Baltic Sea, said profit rose 57 percent in the first half this year after the company increased sales and dropped intermediaries, reports Bloomberg. Net income rose to 27.7 million litas (8 million euros) from 17.6 million litas in the first half of 2010, the Klaipeda-based company said in a statement to the Vilnius stock exchange on July 11.

The European Commission has allocated 425,000 euros for a feasibility study on the projected gas pipeline between Lithuania and Poland, reports ELTA. The financial assistance was provided for the study to be carried out jointly by the Polish GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. and Lithuanian Lietuvos Dujos. The feasibility study is expected to be completed by July 2012. The gas pipeline between Lithuania and Poland is considered to be one of the elements of the strategy to connect the energy markets of the Baltic Sea region states into the so-called Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan (BEMIP).

On July 7 the Estonia-based national energy company Eesti Energia placed a cornerstone to its first heat and power production unit outside Estonia - in Latvia, reports Postimees Online. The heat and power plant, working on biofuel, will be built in Valka. The Valka heat and power plant will start operating in summer 2012; it will have a 2 MW electricity capacity and heat-producing capacity of 8 MW. The plant will start providing heating to Valka and the electricity will be sold in Latvia. The total cost of the investment will be nearly ten million euros, 36 percent of which will be covered by EU grants for renewable energy.

Klaipedos Nafta has signed an agreement with international company Fluor, which is a consultant on the preparation and implementation of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project in Klaipeda, reports ELTA. The agreements stipulates that the consultant will work for four years during which it will prepare a draft technical project, will assist in selecting technologies, will acquire all necessary permits, solve issues of the safety of the project, navigation and others related to the technical side of the project. Lithuania has said it wants to build a floating LNG terminal at Klaipedos port by 2014 to cut dependence on Russian gas and obtain access to the gas spot market, Reuters reports. Klaipedos Nafta said the terminal should have a capacity of 2-3 billion cubic meters of gas per year, and cost some 200-300 million euros.