Page 12 - GLNG Week 39 2022

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After Nord Stream explosions, Lithuania

uneasy about safety of its LNG terminal

TERMINALS FOLLOWING the Nord Stream gas leak inci- of Klaipeda.
dents in the Baltic Sea, Lithuania says it is “wor- The risk of air attacks on the terminal should
ried” about its Klaipeda LNG terminal, LRT.lt, be addressed, he adds.
the website of Lithuanian national broadcaster The expert hesitates to assess the potential
LRT, reported on September 29. damage that would be caused by a gas leak, if any.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen “It depends on how much gas there is. It is dif-
said on September 27 that the leak in the Bal- ficult to say, because it is not clear how much gas
tic Sea was “deliberate” and not a result of an would be in the terminal,” he says.
accident. Klaipedos Nafta (Klaipeda Oil), the state-
Lithuanian experts point out that while the owned company that manages the terminal,
Klaipeda facility is indeed a potential target, the notes that the level of security for the company’s
government is taking extraordinary measures to entire infrastructure was increased after Russia
protect it. launched the invasion of Ukraine in February.
“In military terms, every such facility is high- Meanwhile, Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys
risk and must be given military and intelligence commented that the protection of the terminal,
attention. It is a target for all military adversar- in his opinion, should be strengthened.
ies,” energy expert Saulius Kutas tells LRT.lt. “Since the war broke out, we have taken meas-
The Klaipeda LNG terminal case, however, is ures to strengthen the security: both in of our
different from the incident at sea off the coasts of interconnections with Sweden, with Poland, and
Sweden and Denmark. of the terminal [...] Now the question is whether
“I wouldn’t think that there is such a threat we need to protect it even more strongly. In my
as in the open sea, in international waters. It is opinion, there is a need to do so,” Kreivys said,
difficult to get there from territorial waters and noting that discussions on this issue would con-
the enclosed bay,” Kutas says about the terminal tinue, LRT.lt said.™
located in the Curonian Lagoon just off the coast

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 39 30•September•2022