At its meeting of August 30 this year, the Cabinet of Ministers, examining the report “Informative report on liquefied natural gas terminal projects” prepared by the Ministry of Economics and on the basis of the opinion provided by the security institutions, decided that the status of a facility of national interest will be assigned to the Latvian liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project in Skulte.

The government’s decision will allow for faster and simpler administrative procedures to be applied in the implementation of this project. The project developers see that the LNG terminal project in Skulte could be implemented within 16 months.

At the same time, we remind that as ordered by the Cabinet of Ministers the Ministry of Economics has attracted an independent consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers SIA, which carries out an in-depth assessment of the risks of the project. It is planned to complete the evaluation and inform the government of its results at the CM meeting on September 20, when it is also planned to examine the draft law, which will determine the status of a facility of national interest for the Skulte LNG terminal and specify the procedures for carrying out the environmental impact assessment in accordance with the proposals of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development.

As it is known, on April 19 this year the Cabinet of Ministers decided that in order to ensure additional natural gas supplies, also Latvia should build its LNG terminal.