Energy, Gas, Good for Business, Lithuania, Transport, USA

Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas (Lithuanian Gas Supply, LDT), the gas trading arm of the state-owned energy group Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy) plans to sign a cooperation agreement with Freeport LNG during President Dalia Grybauskaite's visit to the US next week, LDT CEO Mantas Mikalajunas confirmed to BNS.  

Mikalajunas described this as the first step toward a supply contract.

"We plan to sign a cooperation agreement regarding the signing of a master trade agreement with a new supplier, Freeport LNG, and to open commercial negotiations on the supply of gas from their newly developed terminal to Lithuania. (...) This is the first step toward a supply contract," the CEO told BNS.

Klaipedos Nafta, the Klaipeda LNG terminal's operator, will likely sign a separate agreement with Freeport LNG next week, he said.

According to Mikalajunas, the new terminal is under construction on the Gulf of Mexico, close to Cheniere's Sabine Pass facility, from which Lithuania last summer received its first US LNG shipment.

LDT last year purchased gas from Cheniere and Koch Supply & Trading, another US company, and from Spain's Gas Natural Fenosa via the Klaipeda LNG terminal. 

Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas has told BNS after his recent visit to the US that Lithuania this year expects to sign some contracts with US LNG suppliers. 

During last week's visit, the minister met with 10 to 12 companies planning to open their own LNG facilities.