July 22nd, Friday, Klaipeda liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal was visited by President of the Republic of Croatia, Her Excellency Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović with the delegation.
Distinguished guests were welcomed by AB Klaipedos Nafta’s, which owns and operates Klaipeda LNG terminal, managing director Mantas Bartuška and director of the LNG terminal Tadas Matulionis.
The delegation had an opportunity to visit the LNG terminal and FSRU Independence, to meet her crew, which predominantly consists of Croats. The ship owner, Norwegian Höegh LNG, presented to the guests the FSRU technology and the construction history of Independence.
After visiting the LNG terminal Croatia's president said seeing similar technology deployed in Croatia.
"Congratulations to Lithuanian leadership, especially to the President Dalia Grybauskaitė, for having carried out such a hugely important project for Lithuania's not just energy independence, but political stability and competitiveness of your industry. I was very much impressed by this technology. The fact that there is no environmental damage, the environment is very well protected and that this terminal enables to supply with gas Lithuania for a good part of a year and of course other neighbouring Baltic states. It also enables you to negotiate for the price of gas. So this is an important project for the energy security map. I hope that we will replicate the technology back in Croatia. I think it’s a spot where we really need LNG terminal as part on European energy map. So I’m looking forward to continuing to work with Lithuania and your leadership on the realization of this project"- after a visit to the LNG terminal, said Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.
AB Klaipedos Nafta is actively involved in the Croatian LNG terminal project development process.
“Klaipedos Nafta, which provides consulting services for floating LNG terminals and assists terminal developers and operators, is pleased to share this experience with Croatia, which also has plans to implement the LNG terminal project. The country's situation in the field of energy resources is very similar to the Baltic countries; dependence on limited gas import opportunities encourages the country to invest in projects of regional importance. The FSRU technology is currently the most advanced and effective in terms of time to the market and upfront capital investment, so our project delivery and operational experience is certainly useful for Croatia at this stage ", – said Mantas Bartuška, general manager of AB Klaipedos Nafta.
Energy cooperation between Croatia and Lithuania has especially intensified last year when Croatia was visited by Her Excellency the President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė. This year intergovernmental co-operation has increased on the educational level: in June cooperation agreements were signed between the University of Rijeka and the University of Klaipeda, yesterday the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Croatian Ministry of Economy and the Lithuanian Ministry of Energy.
The state owns 72.32 percent of Klaipedos Nafta.
