US State Department congratulates Lithuania on receiving its 1st US LNG shipment

“The United States wants to congratulate the government of Lithuania on receiving its first shipment of US liquefied natural gas this week,” Heather Nauert, spokeswoman for the Department of State, said in a video released on Wednesday.

“The administration has placed a priority on European energy security and this delivery is the latest demonstration of our support for the European Union’s goal of diversifying energy supplies. We welcome Lithuania’s continued commitment to advance Baltic and European energy security through diversification,” she said.

Nauert said that US State Secretary Rex Tillerson expects to continue cooperation with the European Union in gas supplies.

“Secretary Tillerson has emphasized that we will continue to work to expand energy choices within Europe so countries are not dependent on a single or dominant source of energy,” she said.

A tanker carrying the Baltic countries’ first shipment of LNG from Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass export terminal Louisiana arrived in the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda on Monday.

Mantas Mikalajūnas, CEO of Lietuvos Dujų Tiekimas (Lithuanian Gas Supply, or LDT), the Lithuanian company that purchased the cargo, and Energy Minister Žygimantas Vaičiūnas said that more US LNG shipments were expected in the future.

Lithuania expects another LNG shipment from the US to come in mid-September under a contract signed between LDT and Gas Natural Fenosa in July.

Lithuania also receives LNG from Norway’s Statoil and US Koch Supply & Trading. The latter company has delivered gas from Norway and Nigeria.