Energy, EU – Baltic States, Gas, Legislation, Lithuania

"I think we won't need to (terminate the contract with Statoil). That is not an issue on the table at the moment," he told members of the parliament's Committee on Economics during a discussion on Klaipeda LNG terminal maintenance model.

Masiulis also informed the lawmakers that the contract provided for a possibility to terminate it.

"I can't comment on the details, but there is a termination possibility and there are penalties," he said.

The Committee on Economics is expected to decide on Wednesday if to propose that the Seimas ask the government to negotiate with Statoil on lower LNG supply volumes as the country does not need the 540 million cubic meters of more expensive Norwegian gas it has contracted to import annually.

Under the five-year contract signed with Lithuania's state-controlled natural gas trading company Litgas, Statoil is to supply the country with 2.7 billion cubic meters of gas.

BNS has unofficial information that the companies are in talks to spread the contracted gas volume out over a longer period of time due to a decline in demand for gas in the country.