“I’m getting more and more sceptical about the need for exploration here,” Kęstutis Trečiokas said at a news conference in Vilnius on Tuesday.
A new tender might fail as there might be no bidders, he said.
Potential investors were not interested in the tender, even though information about the tender had been disseminated through the Lithuanian embassies abroad, the minister pointed out.
Trečiokas said that he would propose putting off the tender at this point of time.
However, the decision should be taken by the government.
“We will decide together, I don’t want to obtrude my opinions,” the minister added.
In May, the government extended, by up to four months, the term for the issue of an official tender for exploration of shale resources in the Tauragė-Šilutė region, Western Lithuania.
Trečiokas earlier told BNS that this had been done so as to have more time to discuss the tender with potential investors.
The US energy giant Chevron, the sole bidder in the previous tender for a shale gas exploration and production license, pulled out in October 2013, citing unfavourable tax and legal environment in Lithuania as the reason.
According to unconfirmed data, Lithuania could have recoverable shale gas reserves of around 100 billion to 120 billion cubic meters.
Be the first to comment