facility:port of klaipeda

Russian warships force Lithuania to halt Baltic power cable construction - watch on - uatoday.tv
▻http://uatoday.tv/business/russian-warships-force-lithuania-to-halt-baltic-power-cable-construction-425

Baltic states attempting to reduce reliance on Russian energy dependence

Lithuania has accused Russia of attempting to disrupt construction of an undersea power cable to Sweden that would reduce the country’s dependence on Russian energy.

Vilnius says in recent days and on a number of occasions Russian warships illegally ordered a Swedish vessel that was laying the NordBalt power cable to change course.

The NordBalt cable co-financed by the EU, aims to link Sweden and the port of Klaipeda in Lithuania.

Klaipeda has become a strategically vital port for the Baltics with the recently opended liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal enabling Lithuania and her Baltic neighbours the capability of buying gas from world markets rather than relying on Russia’s Gazprom.

Avec le tweet qui va bien:

Former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted: “Is Russia trying to delay works on NordBalt electricity link between Baltic countries and Sweden? Looks like it.”

Gaz : un méthanier norvégien met un terme au monopole russe dans les pays baltes
▻http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2014/10/27/gaz-un-methanier-norvegien-met-un-terme-au-monopole-russe-dans-les-pays-balt

La Lituanie a accueilli, lundi 27 octobre, un terminal flottant de gaz naturel liquéfié (GNL/LNG) baptisé Indépendance, qui brise le monopole du géant gazier russe Gazprom dans les pays baltes. Une garde d’honneur et plusieurs centaines de personnes agitant des drapeaux lituaniens étaient présents au port de Klaipeda sur la Baltique à l’arrivée de ce bateau de 294 mètres, loué pour dix ans au norvégien Hoegh LNG.
Le méthanier permettra à la Lituanie d’acheter l’année prochaine au norvégien Statoil 540 millions de mètres cubes de gaz, et d’importer ensuite annuellement, après l’expiration fin 2015 de son contrat avec Gazprom, jusqu’à 4 milliards de m3, soit bien plus que les 2,7 milliards de m3 achetés à la Russie l’an dernier.
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Lors de la cérémonie officielle à Klaipeda, la présidente lituanienne, Dalia Grybauskaite, a déclaré que le nouveau terminal allait « garantir la sécurité à la région toute entière », car il peut couvrir 90 % des besoins en gaz des trois pays baltes.

http://www.kyivpost.com/media/images/2014/10/28/p195bihbsgcnl1h9b1r7c64dh084/big.jpg

L’article WP[en] sur L’Independence
▻http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FSRU_Independence

L’annonce, l’année dernière (à l’époque, le bateau espérait couvrir 60% des besoins en gaz de la Lituanie…)

At Anchor Off Lithuania, Its Own Energy Supply - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/business/energy-environment/lithuania-aims-for-energy-independence.html

Kiaules Nugara — which translates as Pig’s Back Island—is central to breaking Russia’s hold on Lithuania. The Independence is to be anchored alongside this spot of land, less than two-thirds of a mile long, that sits in the channel leading to the Port of Klaipeda, a busy cargo hub.

Klaipedos Nafta, a state-controlled oil terminal operator, is leasing the ship, formally known as a floating gas storage and regasification unit, from a Norwegian company, Hoegh, in a 10-year deal for 430 million euros, or $560 million. A South Korean shipyard has nearly finished building the ship. The work is expected to be completed in February and the ship is expected to arrive in Lithuania in November.

Lithuania’s decision to go ahead with the L.N.G. project irritated the European Commission, which favored an initiative that would include member states in the Baltic Sea region. But the Lithuanian government was desperate to lower energy costs, revive strong economic growth and reduce an unemployment rate that last year stood at 13 percent.
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“We will be able for the first time in our history to negotiate, because we have alternative sources,” said Rokas Masiulis, the general manager of Klaipedos Nafta.
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But Mr. Masiulis said his greatest challenge was overcoming the Lithuanian bureaucracy and fending off attempts to give the project “a shade of corruption.”
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Vilius Palileika, 59, a boat captain, said that while some residents of Klaipeda might feel threatened by the presence of vast quantities of L.N.G. nearby, “The port will become safer because it will be deeper, and because all ship traffic will stop for a few hours during gas deliveries.”