Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday inaugurated the country’s first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea.
As the European Union steps up efforts to reduce its dependency on Russia, the 174,000 cubic metre (cbm) Marshal Vasilevsky FSRU set up by the country’s energy giant Gazprom, is to in part, reduce gas transit risks to Kaliningrad, home to a Baltic Fleet base, a Kremlin-published transcript of Putin’s speech said.
Besides, the facility will strengthen Russia’s energy security, he added.
“In recent years we have paid much attention to energy supplies, to the energy of the region as a whole, including in connection with EU plans to remove the Baltic states from Russia’s energy ring.
“This is their (EU countries’) business. Additional taxpayers’ money will be invested into that,” Putin said.
Gazprom Chief Executive Officer, Alexei Miller, told the Interfax news agency that supplies to Kaliningrad from Lithuania had been completely halted on Tuesday and replaced with natural gas from the FSRU.
The FSRU can provide Kaliningrad with 2.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year, Gazprom has said.
LNG is delivered by tankers, meaning it can be supplied to many markets.