A Regional Energy Conference held on February 29 in Vilnius focused on “Shale Gas and Oil as Potential Game Changers in the Energy Market in the Baltic States and Poland”. The conference was organized by the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Lithuanian Ministry of Energy, and the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius. Highlights of the conference included discussions of the potential shale resource in each of the Baltic States and an announcement of plans by Lithuania to open tender for shale gas concessions.

Each of the Baltic States had experts on hand to share their perspectives on resource potential. The shale in Latvia was highlighted as likely being thermally immature. The greatest potential would be in the southwest and it may be more likely to be found to be shale oil rather than shale gas.

The unconventional gas prospects for Estonia do not generally look favorable, but there is the potential for shallow biogenic shale gas that will have further investigation. As reported in the 2011 report issued by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA), Lithuania is estimated to have 480 billion cubic meters of shale gas of which over 100 billion cubic meters could be technically recoverable.

Mr. Juozas Mockevicius, Director of the Geological Survey of Lithuania, provided an overview of work they have done that also highlights significant shale gas potential but with somewhat lower potential of 60 to 70 billion cubic meters. Successful development of this potential would require up to 1000 wells from up to 100 centralized pads based on current technical capabilities. However, all participants agreed it was very early to make reasonable projections and that it will be a few years before more is known. Because of this potential, Lithuania is preparing its first shale gas tendering.

Two blocks will be offered—the Silute-Taurage field comprising about 1,400 square kilometers and the Kudirka-Kybartai field comprising about 270 square kilometers. Both blocks are in the southwest of the country where the shale resource is viewed to be the most prospective. The view shared was that there is sufficient legal basis for extraction and laws have been amended to enable tendering.

The Lithuanian Geologic Institute will lead a commission to oversee the tendering. They project issuing terms by the end of March, allowing four months for applications, and making selections by the end of the year. The current intention is to select just one bidder for each block and it will be required that the successful bidders have shale gas development experience. Unlike Poland, a separate license to produce will not be required from the one that will allow exploration. Companies that already have a license to an area where the focus may have been conventional resource development can now also develop shale gas and oil. 

Lithuanian speakers noted their intent for any development to be environmentally sustainable but also noted that they do not intend to have what they indicated to be unproven allegations get in the way of a timely process. Regulations regarding the environment, land use and territory planning, monitoring and safety, and gas and oil production exist and will be enforced.