Dutch ambassador promotes the emergence of LNG platform in Lithuania
Ambassador of Kingdom of the Netherlands to Lithuania Mr. Bert van der Lingen visited the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Klaipėda port, operated by Klaipėdos nafta, and also met with the city's mayor Vytautas Grubliauskas and Klaipėda port authority’s representatives, says press center of Klaipedos Nafta. During the visit, ambassador discussed the use of LNG opportunities and prospects of Klaipėda city and adapting good practices in the use of LNG.
After visiting the LNG terminal, the Ambassador said that Lithuania’s LNG terminal opens up great possibilities for a country to become an important regional center for LNG, which creates the potential development of LNG infrastructure in cities and towns. The Ambassador also encouraged Lithuanians to join the national LNG platform and to follow the Dutch example.
Dutch Ambassador presented not only to the good practices in the use of LNG, but also the national LNG platform idea (already acting in the Netherlands), which quickly spread to other European countries. LNG platform is already established in Germany and Belgium (Flemish Region), France will follow this example soon, according to the Ambassador. National specific LNG platform brings together the country's companies working in the field of LNG - from manufacturers and suppliers, knowledge and training institutions to vendors and end users.
Such a platform provides a great synergy between the companies, creating the ability to quickly respond to customer needs, develop joint projects and sharing of best practices.
By implementing the "Green Agreement", the Dutch LNG platform set ambitious goals in the country in order to have 50 offshore floating LNG vessels, 50 shore-based vessels and 500 heavy-duty trucks. It is planned that by 2020 there will be 5,000 heavy trucks powered by liquefied natural gas in the Netherlands. At present, the Netherlands operates more than 14 LNG filling stations, in accordance with European Union requirements, they must be installed every 400 kilometers.
"Dutch experience shows that LNG is a particularly attractive fuel for transporting heavy loads over long-distance traveling vehicles. LNG allows to smoothly changing diesel engines into the less pollution-emitting and less noisy LNG engines. This is a great choice for urban public transport, garbage disposal companies, as well as the food processing industry, which needs a stable, reliable and high energy content for drying, cooling or thawing of food products. We as LNG infrastructure operator and developer clearly see that we are on the right path and that Klaipeda city also could analyze the possibilities to become part of the "Green Agreement", - said Mantas Bartuška, CEO of AB Klaipėdos Nafta.
