Four developers (which include companies from the US and Middle East) have expressed an interest in the Liquefied Gas Terminal project in Latvia, as reported by the country’s local media. When the project materialises, it will represent a significant contribution by Latvia to Europe’s call to lower dependence on Russian gas supplies.
FSRU Independence, the floating LNG storage and regasification unit for the Klaipeda LNG terminal. Credit: AB Klaipėdos Nafta, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Four developers (which include companies from the US and Middle East) have expressed an interest in the Liquefied Gas Terminal project in Latvia, as reported by the country’s local media. When the project materialises, it will represent a significant contribution by Latvia to Europe’s call to lower dependence on Russian gas supplies.
During his speech in the Saeima earlier this month, the Latvian PM Krišjānis Kariņš said: “If we want to continue having gas in the medium-term perspective, we need a second liquefied gas terminal in the Baltic region.”
Klaipeda’s Liquefied Gas Terminal’s net output is around 36 TWh/year. This is about as much as Lithuania’s (~20 TWh), Latvia’s (~10 TWh) and Estonia’s (~5 TWh) total consumption put together. However, the output becomes insufficient when factoring in Finland (~30 TWh), which has been part of the same market as Estonia and Latvia for two years.
Conexus Baltic Grid board chairman Uldis Bariss said: “[The] Baltic Connector has been created, and it is very powerful because it can cover at least 70% of Finland’s consumption. Different solutions [can be] considered for Finland. But I agree that Finland is the main market for another terminal. This is why regardless if it is located in Estonia, Finland or Latvia, it will definitely need Finnish clients.”
Uldis Bariss contued: “The problem, as usual, is that time is needed to implement projects. This project is planned to double the available output by 2023. Currently, however, we need a solution as quickly as possible. This is why the government has made a decision to prioritize gas from Klaipeda to fill Inčukalns underground gas storage facility. This decision was made in order to guarantee that all traders in Latvia and other countries who order supplies from Klaipeda are able to receive gas from Inčukalns.”
Latvian Minister of Economics Jānis Vitenbergs said: “Plans to reduce dependence on Russian gas or stop using it entirely means new opportunities for the liquefied gas business… there are entrepreneurs… [who] have voiced an interest. We will also travel to the US to discuss options to construct this terminal commercially. We will also talk with our neighbours.”
