In the 16th century (local time), Klaipeda, a port city in Lithuania, faces the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. A very large ship, called a “floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) base in the sea,” was moored here, about 280 km northwest of Vilnius, the capital. At 294m long, 46m wide and 26m high, it was larger than the Yeouido Building 63 (249m) laid flat. The name “Independence” was engraved on the arch. Franco Matijasek, co-chief executive officer of Independence, said, “The name was given to mean that we will achieve energy independence in Russia.”
Lithuania was the first country to declare independence from the former Soviet Union in 1990. It is a small country with a population of 2.8 million, but in April last year, two months after Russia invaded Ukraine, it became the first member state the European Union to stop importing Russian oil. It also cuts off imports of other Russian energy sources, such as electricity and natural gas. It was a different step from the hesitation of traditional European powers, such as Germany, which depended heavily on Russia for energy imports. Lithuania also threw power in diplomacy to Russia. He expelled the Russian ambassador to the country and downgraded diplomatic relations with Russia. He was also at the forefront of sanctions against Russia promoted by the EU. How could this small country be the proudest of Russia?
Lithuania’s Deputy Minister of Energy Albinas Jananavicius said, “I had to go through a very difficult time after breaking away from the former Soviet Union.” Russia tried to control independent countries with a strategy of threatening to cut off energy supplies after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He said, “Immediately after independence, Russia experienced intermittent power cuts, resulting in heat supply cuts, water supply cuts, and transport paralysed.” I thought I couldn’t live as a dependent country.”
Russian state oil company Gazprom, which was a thorn in Lithuania’s early accession to the European Union and close to Western countries, applied 30 to 40 percent higher prices to Lithuania than natural gas supplied to Germany until aged 10 years ago. Unable to secure any other source of energy, Lithuania had to pay a high price for eating mustard while crying. Russian state media sarcastically described Lithuania as “a young, dying democracy doomed to a lack of vigor.” However, instead of complying with Russia, Lithuania embarked on full-scale energy independence.
The person who led energy independence was the former President of Lithuania, Dalia Gribauskaite, who was called the ‘Baltic Iron Lady’ when she was in power between 2009 and 2019. Immediately after taking office, she started a plan to reduce its dependence on Russia, and five years later, in 2014, the vessel built by Hyundai Heavy Industries was completed. The Independence, an LNG storage and processing vessel that was able to import and store LNG for a long time. As Lithuania showed signs of seriously importing energy from other countries, making it difficult to ‘monopolize’, Russia lowered its selling price of natural gas to Lithuania to the same level as other countries. The price of natural gas from Russia fell from 48 euros per 100 kg in 2014 to 26 euros the following year.
Independence, which began commercial operation in 2015, can store up to 70,000 tonnes of LNG in four tanks installed on the vessel. It is normally moored off the coast to liquefy and store natural gas carried by LNG carriers, and when demand rises, it is converted back to natural gas and sent ashore via pipelines.
◇ Independent energy startup with ‘offshore LNG base’
Independence is operated by the Lithuanian state energy company, KN. “Before the war in Ukraine, 6-7 companies used the LNG terminal, but now 16 companies use it,” said Jurita Silinskaite Bensrovine, head of commercial operations at KN However, after the war in Ukraine, demand increased, and now it operates at 80-100%.” Companies in neighboring countries, such as Polish state gas company PGNiG, also pay to rent the Independence. These companies import LNG from countries around the world, including the United States, Norway and Egypt, and store it here. “Once every 7 or 8 days, large and small LNG carriers come to store or receive gas,” explained Franco Matijasek, Independence’s co-chief executive officer.
Pictures of former President Gribauskaite were hung everywhere in the ship Independence that I looked around that day. Deputy Energy Minister Zananavicius said, “Russia’s measures to cut off energy supply became a wake-up call for us.” He said, ‘I would prefer to cooperate with Russia’, but he pushed through with his persistence and is now playing a key role in Lithuania’s energy independence.”
◇ Promote diversification in the energy supply chain
Lithuania did not confront Russia with Independence alone. It has also been actively diversifying its energy supply chain. The pipeline connecting Lithuania and Poland (GIPL) began construction in January 2020 and began commercial operation in May last year. About 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas is transported to both countries through the 508 km long GIPL. GIPL was evaluated to have greatly expanded Lithuania’s access to the European natural gas network by being connected to existing gas pipelines connecting Latvia, Estonia and Finland. A submarine power cable (NordBalt) connecting Lithuania and Sweden also started commercial operations in 2021. This allows Lithuania to import electricity from neighboring countries, including Sweden.
Minister of Transport and Communications Marius Scuodis, who met in Vilnius on the 13th, said, “Unexpected situations such as natural disasters, terrorism, or war can happen at any time, so the risk is too great to rely entirely on a country or company. for energy supply.” By 2030, we will build additional power grids connected to continental Europe to speed up the process of synchronizing power grids with the EU.” Minister Scuodis, who is visiting Korea on the 17th of next month, said , “We will try different ways of cooperation between Klaipeda Port and Busan Port.”
◇ Renewable energy to 80% by 2050
Lithuania is also promoting a strategy to reduce its dependence on fossil energy by expanding renewable energy to change the energy pattern. Adopting the ‘National Energy Independence’ strategy, the government has set a goal of increasing the share of renewable energy in total energy consumption to 45% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. Lithuania’s share of renewable energy increased from 20% in 2009 to 34% in 2019. The Lithuanian government is also promoting the construction of offshore wind energy facilities in Klaipeda. “The Baltic Sea is relatively shallow and windy, which makes it an ideal environment for installing wind turbines,” said Jananavicius, Vice Minister of Energy.
