02/04/2022 22:08 (act 02/04/2022 22:08)
Tanks in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda ©APA/AFP
Lithuania says it has stopped importing natural gas from Russia. The Baltic country’s EU and NATO gas network has been running without gas imports from Russia since the beginning of the month, the Energy Ministry in Vilnius announced on Saturday night. “We are the first EU country among Gazprom’s suppliers that is independent of Russian gas supplies,” Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys said in a statement.
Thus, all of Lithuania’s gas needs are now covered by the liquefied gas terminal in the port of Klaipeda on the Baltic Sea. This is confirmed by data from the Lithuanian network operator. From this it can be seen that on April 2 no gas was imported through the Lithuania-Belarus gas pipeline.
Lithuania put the floating plant into operation in early 2015 to become less dependent on Russian gas imports. According to the information, three large deliveries of liquefied natural gas are expected to arrive monthly at the floating plant.
According to the Ministry of Energy, the transit of gas to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad via the Baltic state must continue, regardless of the import ban. Lithuania borders Kaliningrad as well as Russia’s ally Belarus.
In March, the Lithuanian parliament asked the government in Vilnius to stop importing and consuming Russian energy resources as soon as possible in light of the war in Ukraine. According to parliamentary data, Lithuania buys more than three billion euros of oil, gas and electricity from Russia every year.