Platts: What price European natural gas independence?

If you are a state-run gas company in a Baltic state–once part of the Soviet Union, and tied to the former empire by gas pipelines–you might grab with both hands the chance to buy gas from someone who is not associated with the Kremlin.

Lithuania has asserted its independence from Russian gas by chartering a floating liquefied natural gas import terminal, the Independence, from Hoegh. The first LNG cargo came under a five-year contract in November. The seller was Norway’s Statoil, which operates Europe’s only liquefaction plant, Snohvit.

Symbolically, the plant gives Lithuania access to global markets. True, the politics of dealing with Russia have now become much worse than they were when the idea was conceived. Even though there are no transit states, there is plenty of hostility between Moscow and its former subjects following NATO expansion and difficult relations with Russian nationalities in the Baltic states.

However, those global markets are likely to be less attractive, commercially, than Russia. So after all the talk, only one company–state-owned Litgas–has a gas purchase agreement. That accounts for a bare 15% of the terminal’s capacity.
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