Page 7 - Euroil Week 48 2019

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil
PGNiG enters Lithuanian LNG market
LITHUANIA
PGNiG will use a reloading terminal to ship LNG to customers in Lithuania.
POLISH gas rm PGNiG has struck a deal for exclusive use of a small-scale LNG refuelling station in Lithuania over a ve-year period, as it looks to build up its LNG business.
e contract, which comes into force in April 2020, was signed with Lithuania’s state- owned Klaipedos Na a (KN), which operates the refuelling station in Klaipeda as well as a much larger LNG import terminal located 7km nearby.
Announcing the deal, PGNiG said it had gained experience of small-scale LNG sales from operating the Swinoujscie LNG regasi cation plant in Poland, as well as other LNG facilities in Odolanow and Grodzisk Wielkopolski.
“PGNiG will gain better access to the small- scale LNG market in the Baltic countries and increase the competitiveness of its o er for cus- tomers from the area of north-eastern Poland and Central and Eastern Europe by using the onshore LNG reloading station in Lithuania,” the company’s president, Piotr Wozniak, said in a statement. “It is very important from the point of view of security of supply that PGNiG will independently decide from whom to buy and bring LNG to the onshore reloading station in Lithuania.”
e refuelling station can only store 2,250 tonnes of LNG in its tanks, and receives deliv- eries from vessels much smaller than conven- tional ocean-going tankers. It has two loading bays for LNG road tankers and ISO contain- ers, with a maximum loading rate of 45 tonnes per hour. It is equipped with a wharf designed to load LNG onto smaller-scale vessels. e wharf can also be used to refuel LNG-pow- ered ships at a rate of 112.5-225 tonnes per hour.
Dozens of companies from Lithuania, Esto- nia and Poland have so far used the station since its launch in October 2017, according to KN. e Lithuanian rm’s CEO, Darius Silen- skis, noted that having PGNiG as a strategic partner at the station would create synergy in its operations.
e market for small-scale sales of LNG is growing in Europe, as companies take steps to cut their emissions to comply with new EU tar- gets and respond to consumer pressure. LNG produces considerably less nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, ne particles and other pollut- ants than conventional marine, road and rail transport fuels. It is also seen as an attractive fuel source at industrial plants. ™
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