Arvydas Sekmokas also admitted that Vilnius’ talks with Gazprom over lower prices of natural gas were not easy.
“Everything is possible. The main goal is to ensure a lower price of gas, which is one of our negotiation arguments, strong negotiation arguments, since Gazprom is not an easy negotiation partner,” he told reporters in response to the question whether the dispute between Lithuania and Gazprom could be resolved peacefully.
On Wednesday, Lithuania announced it was initiating a suit against Gazprom at the Stockholm arbitration tribunal demanding up to 5 billion litas in overpayments for gas that the Russian company supplied to the country at allegedly unfair prices between 2004 and 2012.
“According to our calculations, the estimated loss for consumers is around 5 billion litas during that period from 2004. It would be unforgivable not to mention that loss as a very strong argument in talks with Gazprom. We had to try rather hard to get ready for this step. Such processes require thorough legal analysis and thorough preparations,” Sekmokas said at a news conference in Klaipėda on Thursday.
It is said that the formula used to calculate the price of gas supplied to Lithuania has been revised five times since 2005, eventually tying it to soaring oil product prices in the world's markets.
Lithuania now wants the gas price to be linked to biofuel prices.