LNG vessel to be protected on its way to Lithuania

“The vessel will be safeguarded from a certain distance but this will be done there by others,” Butkevičius told reporters in Klaipėda on Tuesday.

The terminal’s construction should be completed in September and would be followed by testing, he said.

“I think the works will be completed in September, which will be followed by testing and then the vessel will arrive,” Butkevičius said.

“Today, it has been decided to finally align the schedule among all subcontractors and the general contractor to include specific dates, a clear schedule for the completion of works… Any talks about the extension of work have been fully ruled out,” he said.

The schedule of works is to be prepared in order to speed up the construction and the commissioning, explains Rokas Masiulis, CEO of Klaipėdos Nafta (Klaipėda Oil), the LNG facility developer.

In late August, Klaipėdos Nafta and the Public Security Service signed a contract on the security of the LNG facility. Sergėjus Madalovas, the chief of the Service, then said that the Service would set up a unit to ensure the security of the terminal in Klaipėda.

The LNG facility in Klaipėda is expected to be launched in early December. It is planned that Lithuania will be able to import about 1 billion cubic meters of gas via the terminal in the first year of operation, with the annual capacity to be increased to 4 billion cubic meters in the future.