Brussels, 20/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 20 September, Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius condemned the warnings of possible disruption to gas supply made by Gasprom of Russia and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany, two stakeholders, along with the Lithuanian state in Lietuvos Dujos (Lithuanian Gas), if there is “overhasty” unbundling of Lietuvos Dujos supply and transport activities. “I treat these words very simply as a publicly-stated threat to disrupt gas supplies if the Lithuanian government implements the European directives. Such a threat is totally unacceptable to us,” Kubilius is reported by the Baltic News Service agency as saying.
In an open letter on Monday, Gasprom and E.ON Ruhrgas, the two largest shareholders in Lieuvos Dujos with 37.1% and 38.9% holdings respectively (the Lithuanian state holds 17.7% only), call on the Lithuanian government to use the derogation provided for in Directive 2009/73/EC on common rules for the internal gas market. “An overhasty implementation of ownership unbundling, which deeply affects all processes and structures of Lietuvos Dujos by fully separating the transmission business from the rest of the company, could cause disruptions to gas supply,” they warn. Their comments brought a sharp reaction from the Lithuanian prime minister who pointed out that the efforts of his government to implement Directive 2009/73/EC had nothing to do with nationalisation of Lithuanian Gas assets. Lietuvos Dujos shareholders must “behave in a civilised way” in discussions on implementation of European directives, and he added that Estonia and Poland were also preparing to implement the directives. Without first seeing the letter from Gazprom and E.ON to the Lithuanian government, Marlene Holzner, spokeswoman for Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger declined to make any comment on Monday. Lithuanian Energy Mnister Arvydas Sekmokas said that Oettinger had given his backing to government plans to liberalise the Lithuanian energy market. “The commissioner has confirmed that we are on the right way. Let me remind you that Russia's ambassador (to Lithuania) Vladimir Chkhikvadze has confirmed that the price for 1,000 cubic metres of natural gas on the Lithuanian border is 100 US dollars higher than on the German border. The Lithuanian government's aim is to ensure that Lithuanian gas consumers pay for gas at competitive prices, compared with those in the European Union,” he said on Monday. (E.H./transl.rt)