PM Butkevičius in US: Lithuania looking for investments in shale gas

DELFI / Tomas Vinickas

Butkevičius visited Marcellus shale deposit, which is located in Pennsylvania and is one of the largest in the US, the Lithuanian government said. The prime minister also met with representatives of Pittsburgh University.

“I hope that the meeting with you as experts in this field and the extensive US experience in exploring and utilizing shale gas resources will provide us with useful information and give a new impetus to the efforts to use the energy resources,” said Butkevičius, adding that this would also benefit the country’s energy independence.

The prime minister emphasized that Lithuania is preparing favourable conditions for shale exploration and extraction.

“I hope that the Seimas [parliament] of Lithuania supports our proposal to reduce the tax tariff on shale gas extraction to 1 percent for the first year of operations, knowing that investors take on huge risks over the first year,” said Butkevičius.

After Lithuania’s administration revised the tax, legal and regulation scheme, US energy company Chevron withdrew from the shale gas extraction competition in October 2013.

Environment Minister Kęstutis Trečiokas says a new competition can be held next spring after the parliament adopts changes to the Law on Hydrocarbon Tax, which envisage a 1 percent tariff for the first three years of hydrocarbon extraction.

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