Lithuania Seeks Early Buyout of Hoegh Lease

Lithuania says again it wants to buy out its FSRU Independence in the port of Klaipeda from Norway’s Hoegh LNG before the 10-year lease expires. The Lithuanian energy minister Rokas Masiulis says it would substantially cut the Klaipeda LNG terminal’s support costs. Lithuania will ask the European Union for funds, he said.

“One of Lithuania’s interests is buying out the LNG terminal before the lease is up. It would help further cut the price of the liquefied natural gas as it would enable us to spread the (LNG terminal support) costs over a longer period. We estimate that the terminal’s cost could go down 20%. We have spoken about a possible EU support in the matter with Maros Sevcovic, the vice-president of the European Commission,” Masiulis said.

The 170,000 m³ FSRU Independence was delivered in the spring of 2014.

According to agreement between Klaipedos Nafta, the operator of Klaipeda LNG terminal, and Norway’s Hoegh LNG, the LNG jetty lease holder, Lithuania pays $189,000 (€168,550) for the lease. The amount will make up around €614,465mn in 2024 when the lease expires.

Last year, Lithuania contacted Hoegh LNG with a request to buy the vessel earlier than 2024, but the Norwegians declined.

Linas Jegelevicius