Even if Russia cuts energy supply to Europe, Lithuania will not run out of gas, the country’s Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has reassured. However, if there is a need for rationing, household consumers will be prioritised over industry.
“We have a certain algorithm in Lithuania that defines what to do if there is a real shortage of energy supply. And that algorithm is very clear – the end-consumers in households are the last ones in the chain to be affected. At the beginning, of course, there are industrial or economic uses,” Simonyte said.
According to her, Lithuania has significantly reduced its gas consumption over the last decades and the trend is to continue.
“This year, there are a lot of measures foreseen for our companies and businesses to change their energy use, to move towards a more sustainable mix,” she said.
Similarly, cities are replacing gas with biofuel for central heating, she added.
“These are the processes that are making it possible to reduce the amount of gas consumed, and that amount is simply decreasing naturally. So I don’t think that this will be a very big challenge for Lithuania and that it will require some very special solutions,” Simonyte said.
EU member states reached an agreement on July 26 to reduce their natural gas consumption by 15% and cut down on the use of Russian energy supplies.
Hungary was the only member state to oppose the plan.
Albinas Zananavicius, Lithuania’s deputy energy minister, said that Lithuania would not need to take additional measures to achieve a 15% reduction in natural gas consumption. This would be helped by a drop in gas demand and Vilnius’ plans, somewhat controversial, to replace natural gas with more polluting fuel in its heating plants next winter. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
