Sea

© Vytautas Karaciejus photo

Spausdinti   Supplement to article

Because of planned reconstruction of Sventoji part and the buiding of Butinge deep-water port, new conflicts may arise with Latvia. There is also a continuing misunderstanding between Lithuania and Latvia on sea-border treaty ratification.

Angry about oil

The treaty between Lithuania and Latvia on sea-border and economy zone has been signed in 1999. Lithuanian Seimas ratified it immediately, while in Latvia this process is still unfinished and continues until now. According to Latvian politicians, an agreement on bilateral economic cooperation in the Baltic Sea zone and continental shelf had to be achieved first. Disputes are arising because of the economic zone, which has oil. According to preliminary estimations, in the Baltic Sea border between Lithuania and Latvia, in the so-called Lithuanian-Latvian economic zone’s basin E-24, there are 100 million tons of oil, which is estimated to have a value of 73 billion U.S. dollars. Latvians are convinced that this basin belongs solely to them. Under a licensing agreement, the Latvian Government along with U.S.A. and Swedish companies Amoco and OPAB were scanning the waters for oil in this area. The misunderstandings arose because both countries do not agree to which an approximately one kilometer of oil layer belongs to. In 2009, Latvian press announced that the license to extract oil in the Latvian waters received Polish company PKN Orlen and Kuwait’s Kuwait Energy Co company Balin Energy. It was planned to recycle oil using PKN Orlen factories both in Lithuania and Poland. However, the oil is neither being extracted in the Latvian waters nor in the so-called Latvian-Lithuanian economic zone.

The impact of Sventoji

Lithuanian environmental scientists have made an impact assessment study of Sventoji port. Although the distance between Sventoji port and Latvian border is 5 kilometers, the impact will be felt by Latvians. Upon the construction of Sventoji port with piers in the sea, marine sediments will settle before the new breakwaters. From the piers to the north, the coast will be washed.

Latvia felt the impacts of Sventoji port before. Professor at Lithuanian Energy Institute Brunonas Gailiusis claimed that when at the beginning of the 20^th century Sventoji port was built, Latvia, in turn, lost 35 hectares of its territory. According to Mr. Gailiusis, the studies and cartographic material from 1910 show that from the North shores of Sventoji in the territory of Lithuania, the shores have been retreated for about 4 meters and in Latvia for about 2-3 meters.

Upon the construction of Sventoji port according to the option 2B, the impact of port will be the same as it was at the beginning of 20^th century. As Mr. Gailiusis points out, in order to reduce its impact, we will need to pile dredged soil to the north of the port. Similarly to Klaipeda, the shores of Sventoji will be supplied with clean sand. Sventoji also has an unpleasant surprise. Now, the seaside was near Sventoji creek. When the port is constructed, the seaside will have to be moved 500 meters away from the jetties.