Klaipėdos Nafta CEO Rokas Masiulis said on Friday that the company expects to sign a gas supply contract by the end of 2012, with about a billion cubic meters of gas expected to be pumped via the terminal in the first year.
"We are planning to announce a tender this year and to sign a contract in the second half of the year. We aim to pump about 1 billion cubic meters in order to minimize the impact of the operating terminal's costs on the gas price," Masiulis told reporters in Vilnius after signing a contract with Norway's Hoegh LNG on the lease of a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for the LNG terminal.
"We will handle more in the future if we can," he added.
It is planned that the LNG terminal, estimated to cost about 200 million euros, will have an annual capacity of 2 billion to 3 billion cubic meters.
On Friday, Klaipėdos Nafta signed a 10-year contract with Hoegh LNG to lease an FSRU for Lithuania's planned LNG terminal. Hoegh LNG is to ensure that the FSRU is delivered to the port of Klaipėda at the end of 2014.
Klaipedos Nafta has already signed letters of intent on the supply of LNG with Spain’s Gas Natural Fenosa and US Cheniere. Russia’s gas giant Gazprom has declared its intentions to supply gas as well. According to media reports, Klaipėdos Nafta is also discussing the supply of gas with international companies British Petroleum, Shell and others.
Under the plan, the FSRU will be moored at the so-called Kiaulės Nugara (Pig's Back), in the southern part of the Klaipėda port, and will be connected to the country's gas network via a new pipeline to be built by Lietuvos Dujos (Lithuanian Gas) between Klaipėda and Jurbarkas. The pipeline project is being 50-percent financed by Lietuvos Dujos and the rest by the state.
