“Klaipėdos Nafta and the Klaipėda Port Authority have signed an additional agreement on investment and investment reimbursement procedures, which complements the 5 July bilateral agreement on the development of the port’s infrastructure and modifies the terms of cooperation between the company and the port when implementing the LNG terminal project,” Klaipėdos Nafta reported through the NASDAQ OMX Vilnius Stock Exchange.
Among other things, the parties agreed on preliminary investments in the port’s infrastructure. The port’s investments related with its arrangements for the operations of the LNG terminal, i.e. the dredging works, radiolocation equipment, adaptation of port’s systems, will reach an estimated 106.426 million litas (ex VAT).
Klaipėdos Nafta, in its turn, will invest 54.204 million litas in the quay and other infrastructure (these costs will later be reimbursed by the port’s authority) and further 54.805 million litas in equipment and systems required for the use of LNG storage facility.
The precise amount of investments will be known after the signing of contracts with tender winners.
Eugenijus Gentvilas, the port’s CEO, told BNS that the deal marked the completion of negotiations between Klaipėdos Nafta and the port’s authority on investments in the planned LNG terminal in Klaipėda.
“Our mutual relations have now been formalized and have a contractual basis. What is left now is a tender to select a designer and contractor for the quay...,” he said.
A tender to select a contractor for the construction of the quay is expected to be launched soon.
Following several months of discussions, on 5 July the port’s authority and Klaipėdos Nafta signed a cooperation agreement setting out a framework for the financing of the construction of the terminal's infrastructure. The government adopted a resolution on this issue on 11 July.
Under the government resolution and the agreement signed this Tuesday, the port’s authority will recover its investments in the LNG terminal's quays through the port’s charges and fees, and other payments by Klaipėdos Nafta or other entities that will service or be serviced by the terminal, as well as an annual fee that Klaipėdos Nafta will pay for the use of the quay. The annual fee will be calculated so that to ensure that the port’s investment pays for itself in 20 years at a 5 percent return rate. The fee will go down every year based on how much the port collects in charges and fees.
