Who will take responsibility for the failing, expensive, liquefied gas terminal in Klaipėda adventure: gas price curve is verticalizing - there are fears of a crisis like in 2022 or worse

The responsibility for the Klaipėda LNG terminal (FSRU "Independence") rests with the Lithuanian government and the state-controlled operator KN Energies (formerly Klaipėdos Nafta), who initiated the project in 2010 to end Gazprom's monopoly.

While some critics once labeled the terminal an "expensive adventure" due to high maintenance costs and its "security supplement" tax on consumers, the 2022 energy crisis fundamentally shifted this narrative. Now crisis is shifting it again.

    Political Accountability: Former President Dalia Grybauskaitė and the then-Ministry of Energy championed the project as an "existential" necessity for energy independence.

Why the project is failing?

 

“The European gas price graph shot up almost vertically this week, analysts are leaning towards 2022, and politicians are making promises to control the situation. Perhaps the first LNG cargo to be on its way to Europe since the Russian gas crisis is headed to Asia.

 

“European gas prices reflect a risk that is no longer being recalculated. They reflect a disruption,” states Ole S. Hvalbye, a commodities analyst at SEB Bank.

 

Natural gas futures prices on the Dutch TTF trading floor, the ICE exchange, jumped again on Tuesday after a jump of almost 50% on Monday.”