The Klaipėda LNG terminal — a cornerstone of energy security

The Klaipėda Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal is one of the key national facilities ensuring energy security. It created the conditions for the emergence of a natural gas market in Lithuania and opened up the possibility for the state and its citizens to import natural gas from all over the world.

The Klaipėda LNG terminal operates in the southern part of the Port of Klaipėda, in the Curonian Lagoon near Kiaulės Nugara Island.

What are the main components of the Klaipėda LNG terminal?

• FSRU Independence – a 170,000 m³ floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) with onboard regasification equipment that converts LNG from liquid to gaseous state.

• A 450-metre jetty for berthing the FSRU.

• An 18 km high-pressure connecting pipeline (including 3 km beneath the Curonian Lagoon), 700 mm in diameter, linking the FSRU with the gas metering station in Kiškėnai.

The Klaipėda LNG value chain is complemented by the Klaipėda LNG reloading station – five 1,000 m³ onshore storage tanks to which LNG is delivered from Independence and then distributed by LNG trucks or reloaded onto vessels.

Importance of the terminal for Lithuania and the region

The Klaipėda LNG terminal was developed to safeguard national energy security – to reduce dependence on the former single gas supply source from the East, to enable natural gas imports by sea from other countries, and to foster the development of a regional gas market.

• The Klaipėda LNG terminal contributes to energy security across the entire Baltic region.
• Klaipėda Port is ice-free, ensuring smooth navigation and uninterrupted cargo operations all year round.
• The LNG terminal infrastructure is designed both for LNG regasification and LNG reloading, with customers accessing terminal capacities on a third-party access basis.
• Competitive LNG regasification tariffs support gas market development in Lithuania, while LNG reloading tariffs create favourable conditions for small-scale LNG activities.
• The minimum required LNG heel on board the FSRU ensures that the terminal is constantly ready for operation.

The project was launched on the basis of the National Energy Strategy approved in 2007, and in 2010 the Government of the Republic of Lithuania endorsed that AB “Klaipėdos nafta” should start preparing the LNG terminal project and become the organiser responsible for drawing up the special plan for the terminal, related infrastructure and gas pipeline.

• In 2013, the LNG floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Independence was built at the Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. shipyard in South Korea, and on 27 October 2014 the vessel arrived in Klaipėda.
• After commissioning tests, operation of the terminal started on 3 December 2014 and commercial activities commenced at the beginning of 2015. Klaipėda LNG terminal introduced a number of innovative solutions to the market: it was the first floating terminal in Europe to offer regasification services to several different terminal users (multi-user) and to operate in a multi-service mode for different types of clients. Under the industry practice prevailing at that time, floating LNG terminals operated with only a single client.
• In order to create a full LNG logistics chain in the Baltic region, an LNG reloading service was launched at the terminal in 2017, and on 27 October 2017 the operations of the Klaipėda LNG reloading station started. These activities contributed to the development of the small-scale LNG market and ensured LNG supply to autonomous (satellite) LNG terminals around the Baltic Sea, while natural gas from the Klaipėda LNG reloading station is delivered by LNG road tankers to gas consumers in Lithuania, Poland, Latvia and Estonia.
• In mid-2024, to mark the tenth anniversary of the terminal in Lithuania and a new stage in its life cycle, the hull of Independence was adorned with a unique weathervane created specially for this occasion, with a design inspired by the folk art traditions of the Curonian Lagoon coastal area.
• On 6 December 2024, KN Energies acquired full ownership of the FSRU Independence, it was registered in the Lithuanian Ship Register and its home port was changed from Singapore to Klaipėda, with a goal to ensuring the operation of the terminal until 31 December 2044.
• In early October 2025, the first virtual biomethane liquefaction operation was successfully carried out at Independence in the terminal, making Klaipėda LNG terminal one of the first terminals in the Baltic region to offer such a service.

Interested in the services of the Klaipėda LNG terminal or looking for information for clients?

More detailed information on the services provided at the Klaipėda LNG terminal, applicable regulations, becoming a terminal user and other operational information is available here.

How the Klaipėda LNG terminal operates

The Klaipėda LNG terminal consists of the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Independence, the jetty, the connecting gas pipeline and the gas metering station. The FSRU Independence is permanently moored at the jetty and supplies natural gas into the gas transmission system.

The FSRU is an LNG carrier which, in the Klaipėda State Seaport, receives LNG from incoming LNG carriers and can reload LNG onto LNG carriers calling at the terminal. LNG is converted back into gaseous form using the heat exchangers of the FSRU.

Incoming LNG carriers berth on the starboard side of Independence. The terminal jetty is 450 metres long and consists of three mooring points and six quick-release hook berthing points, servicing and high-pressure platforms, and connecting bridges. Special equipment is installed on the jetty, such as fire safety towers and a fire extinguishing system, maintenance cranes, high-pressure loading arms, quick-release rope hooks, electric generators and other equipment.

An almost 18 km long connecting gas pipeline has been laid from the LNG terminal jetty to the gas metering station of Amber Grid, the Lithuanian gas transmission system operator. The natural gas regasified at the terminal is metered at this station, where gas metering equipment is installed. From the gas metering station, the gas is fed into Lithuania’s main gas transmission pipeline network.

What LNG is

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a clear, colourless, non-toxic and non-explosive liquid produced by cooling natural gas to –162 °C. During this cooling process, the volume of the gas decreases by a factor of about 600, enabling easier and safer storage and transportation.

Once delivered to its destination, LNG is converted back into gaseous form in regasification facilities and supplied through pipelines to households, businesses and industry, where it is used for heat or electricity generation. Today LNG is becoming an economically competitive, cleaner fuel, and the infrastructure of the Klaipėda LNG value chain enables the use of clean fuel in shipping and heavy road transport.

Weathervane of Freedom

At the end of 2024, as the FSRU Independence of the Klaipėda LNG terminal came under Lithuanian ownership, it became an even stronger guarantor of our country’s freedom, while simultaneously symbolizing the path of freedom that Lithuania has taken.

To mark the terminal’s decade of operation in Lithuania and the beginning of a new stage in its journey, the hull of Independence has been adorned with a unique weathervane, specially designed for this occasion and inspired by the folk-art traditions of the coastal areas of the Curonian Lagoon.

A symbol born from a unique tradition

The choice of the weathervane as the symbol of Independence is no coincidence. It is a unique heritage object for the Lithuanian seaside – similar folk art are not found anywhere else in the world.

The history of weathervanes characteristic of the Curonian Spit region dates back to the 19th century. On the roofs of houses or on the mast of ships, the owner used to encode his surroundings, his dreams, hobbies, values, a specific story, a narrative in the weathervane.

The Weathervane of Freedom on the Independence retains the form of the traditional Curonian Spit weathervane, but its modern symbols tell the story of Lithuania’s freedom and signify the nation’s uncompromising pursuit of freedom, both political and energy.

Tells a story

The weathervane placed on the hull of Independence tells the story of Lithuania’s freedom throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, of which the Klaipėda LNG terminal itself is an integral part.

Encoded symbols

This distinctive symbolic weathervane contains encoded representations of the key steps Lithuania has taken on its path to freedom. It reminds everyone who looks at Independence of these milestones.

Authentic heritage

Through this element, the vessel presents Lithuania not only as a leader in regional energy independence, but also as a country that cherishes and preserves its authentic heritage.