The second largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo this year will be imported from the United States and regasified through the LNG terminal in Klaipėda.
This is the third LNG cargo from the US and the fifth cargo in total for this year. Prior to the arrival of this cargo, the LNG imported from the US accounted for 5.47 per cent of the total amount of imported LNG at the Klaipėda terminal, since the start of the terminal’s operations. The American LNG was imported to Lithuania for the first time in August 2017, while an additional 125,000 cubic meters of LNG arrived earlier this month.
“In terms of LNG trade, the US has been a balancing source of the world LNG supply and Europe has been a balancing source of demand for the past few years,” said Arūnas Molis, director of KN LNG. “New LNG liquefaction plants are being built and put into operation in the US, resulting in more flexible cargos, which are not necessarily contractually linked to the final buyer. Such cargoes have strong market demand.”
The intensification of LNG imports from the US was determined by the extraordinary situation in the LNG market when many European gas storage facilities were maximally filled and the cargos of the US producers were available to market participants at attractive prices. The Klaipėda LNG terminal, in turn, provided the terminal users with the opportunity to import LNG from producers in different regions, in response to the changing market situation of spot commodities, thus reducing the cost of energy resources.
According to Mr Molis, the regionality of the LNG terminal in Lithuania, the flexibility of gas supply and the transparent pricing had a positive impact on the LNG demand in the region by taking advantage of the global LNG market opportunities.
“Our LNG terminal is already recognised as an established market player and terminal users can choose their import sources flexibly and based on their current needs,” continued Mr Molis. “And not only in Lithuania or the Baltic Sea region as before. According to a recent report published by the European Commission, Klaipėda LNG terminal, particularly after the connection with Poland, is a competitive way to supply LNG to Ukraine, Belarus and other EU Eastern Partnership countries that see the perspectives of LNG use in the sectors of industry, transport and other sectors.”
