Lithuania hopes to restart fracking

Lithuania plans to launch a new tender for shale gas licences early next year, the government said this week.

The environment ministry must first decide whether it needs to do a new strategic environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the exploration area in Šilute and Taurage in the northwest of the country, but it does not expect this to delay its plans, a spokeswoman said.

Chevron won a shale gas licence in Lithuania in 2013 but pulled out complaining of strict EIA rules and the threat of taxation of up to 40% in the future.