Baltic States – CIS, Energy, EU – Baltic States, Gas, Latvia, Legislation

Deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Economy, Jurijs Spiridonovs explained that, historically, the Baltic region is technically connected only with Russia. Latvia also has a gas pipeline that is connected with Estonia, but it operates only one way – from Latvia to Estonia. Latvia has a two-way gas pipeline with Lithuania as well.

"Latvia is lucky to have the Incukalns underground gas storage facility. However, the gas system can be considered safe only if it is accessible from two points, thus, Latvia is ready to facilitate the establishment of a system that would allow the acquisition of gas from any other country. We have discussed several options on how to achieve this," Spiridonovs indicated.

According to Spiridonovs, the first option would be a Polish-Lithuanian interconnection, which would allow Latvia to obtain gas from Poland. The second option would be an Estonian-Finnish interconnection, the third option would be liquefied gas terminals.

"If we wish to have a safe gas supply system, we have to consider gas interconnections. Polish-Lithuanian and Estonian-Finnish interconnections have been priority projects in Latvia's power industry since 2008. The European Commission has recognized these priority projects as well, and currently they are being prepared for initiation. These projects must be submitted until September, then we have to wait for the final decision after which construction works can begin," Spiridonovs said.

He also added that the Lithuania-Poland gas pipeline project does not come from Latvia, but is developed by Poland.